Little Green Leaf
by Ninja Shen
Summary: ...Fine. If you wanna die so bad, it's your call. But you gotta prove to me you're worth the effort. I'll let you fight my sister... but first, you gotta get through ME. Kankuro x Tenten [finished]
1. KO

I wanted to write about Kankuro, but sadly, I can only write ONE type of story. No matter what I really wanted to write, all stories will eventually end up a romance. So, I decided to just bite it and write a romance about to start with. But since NO ONE wants to read a romantic story about KANKURO, I ended up coupling him with the most unpopular GIRL character in the whole series to even it out.

Armed with my pairing of the two least favorite characters of all time, I prepare myself for zero reviews. Seriously. I already know no one is going to read this. But if I don't write it, it'll get stuck in my head forever.

This is dedicated to CelticAngel1306 and all the Kankuro fan girls…you know, the whole six of us.

* * *

She shot soundlessly through the trees at an incredible speed, hidden by the leaves and the dark of night. Destination in mind, nothing could dissuade her from making the journey, and nothing could stop her from attaining her goal.

Three and a half years she had spent on this. Three and a half years of training, her body and her mind. Genjutsu, ninjutsu, taijutsu, all her own unique moves- dedicated to this night, when she could finally set her mind at ease, and taste her hard-earned victory. There was no way her efforts were going to waste. She would not allow failure after all this preparation. It was time for her rematch; it was time to set things right.

Tenten would never forget her absolute and utter defeat to Temari at the preliminary Chuunin Exam three and a half years ago. That smug look on the Sand girl's face as she easily swatted away all of Tenten's furious attacks, even her final attack, as if they were all merely bothersome flies. Tenten had not been prepared for such a humiliating loss. She had been too cocky, too sure. After all, she was on a team with Neji and Rock Lee, and it was easy for one's confidence to swell with those two easily defeating any foe that came for them, no matter how formidable. Fighting WITH them was easy. But fighting by her lonesome…

It was so frustrating to be told by Gai-Sensei that she needed more practice, that she should stay after with him and Lee and they could help train her further. She did not WANT to be the weakest one. After all, the weakest one was originally Lee. At what point had he so thoroughly surpassed her? At what point did she start relying on them to help her fight?

After her defeat, she had awoken in the hospital to discover that Temari's brother, Gaara, had just crushed Lee and all three of the Sand siblings had gone on to the third round of the Chuunin Exam. This discovery made her go into a brief depression. Even Lee had been defeated…who was she to think she could stand a chance? She who was not even worth the effort of a fight? How could she have let herself think she was as strong as them in the first place? Where did she get the nerve telling Rock Lee to give up, because he would never surpass Neji? How could she have been so stupid?

But watching the final match-ups of the Chuunin Exam a month later rekindled her fighting spirit. Watching Neji be defeated by Naruto proved that hard work could, in fact, defeat genius- and watching Shikamaru outsmart Temari proved that she was not as tough as she thought, nor as clever. Armed with these sudden comprehensions, Tenten began a vigorous training regime; ignoring things she once spent time fussing over, such as Neji.

If she ever felt anything for her teammate, it was a mere girlish crush, long since stamped out by her determination to better herself. Now she was left with only a profound sense of respect and admiration for her colleague. The only time she ever spent with him anymore was on missions and training. He did not seem to miss her company.

The trees were becoming scarcer now as she began to enter the Country of Wind. She knew soon it would be a vast desert with little to hide behind- which would have made any ninja from a village hiding in the leaves very uncomfortable- that is, if they had not spent the last three and a half years training for this,

Tenten had been preparing for everything. She scouted the border between the Country of Fire and the Country of Wind for a long time, preparing her body and mind for everything. After all, she intended to challenge Temari- which meant she would have to fight the fan-wielding girl on her own terrain. Tenten needed to be able to understand her surroundings, as well as see through any trick of Temari's using the sand to her advantage. Admittedly, Temari did have the upper hand, being more familiar with the battlegrounds. Hopefully Tenten's surprise attack would catch her off-guard and level the playing field. After all, Temari had not spent over three years preparing to fight Tenten again. She would probably underestimate her, armed only with the information she had from their last fight, and that would be her greatest mistake. Temari undoubtedly would have gotten stronger over the past three years, but she should not be ready for someone who had spent that time studying how to defeat HER. Someone whose aim was one hundred percent dead-on, someone who stayed up late, long into many nights on end learning to throw a variety of ninja tools past, through, and around a cyclone, someone who would not once again be defeated by wind.

By now she could feel the sting of the wind on her cheeks. The forest was becoming less dense, and she was running out of places to hide. After the forest, there was a field, then the desert stretched across the land like a vast ocean. A knot in her stomach tightened slightly. She was nearly there. She knew from her research that Temari's hometown was not too far from here, past the field where the grass stopped growing, and the sand blanketed the country. She would be there in just under two hours. It would not be long until she could finally avenge her loss and set her mind at ease.

Suddenly she stopped, standing on a branch of one of the last thick trees. She looked around warily. Something was not right. Something was...something was out of place.

There was someone here.

She was not doing very much to erase her presence at this moment, standing out in the open. She searched for the source of this discomfort as quickly as she could, hoping to see them before they noticed her, or at least before they attacked her. This would be a very bad day to be ambushed. Damn, she had been so focused on her upcoming fight that she had not paid that much attention to her surroundings…

Finally, with a start, she spotted him. He was sitting lazily, relaxed even, on the branch of a tree several meters away from her. Her hopes sank when she noticed that he was staring right at her. There was no way she could get past him now.

Oh well. Ignoring him would not do any good. Swelling up her chest determinately, she scowled at him. If she could not get past this, she did no deserve to make the rest of this journey.

"Who are you?" She demanded. "And what are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same of you," he drawled lowly, a hint of playfulness in his voice.

Damn…did she know that voice? He was too far away for her to see him very well.

"That business is my own," she replied resolutely. "I have no fight with you. I trust you'll let me pass?"

"That depends," he replied, slowly rising to his feet. "Just where do you think you're going?"

"I have a fight scheduled with someone in the Sand Country," she announced. "You're making me late."

"Oh?" he asked, bemused. "And who is that? Maybe I know them."

She furrowed her brows at him. Damn, who was this nosy guy? She could not see his face from where she stood. She would have to get closer.

"That's none of your concern," she replied bitterly.

He grinned. "It is, though. You might be planning an ambush on someone in my country. Then I could be held accountable if you killed them, since I saw you coming. I have no reason to let you pass." He eyed her up and down. "Then again, I probably don't have to worry about a little green leaf like you killing anyone. I bet you've never done it before."

"Don't underestimate me!" Tenten scowled at him. "I've traveled for three hours to get here, and you won't stop me! If you're so sure I won't kill anyone, let me pass!"

"Well," he replied in an infuriatingly impassive way, "You've got quite a sting, don't you? Maybe you ARE dangerous. Just tell me…who are you going to fight?"

At this point, anything to get rid of this asshole.

"Temari," she spat.

To her surprise the boy laughed cruelly. He then picked up something rather large, slung it over his shoulder, and leapt forward to the next tree branch. Now that he was out of the shadows, Tenten could clearly see him in the moonlight. She gasped.

Oh, God. It was Temari's brother.

Not the dangerous one. The other one. What was his name?

"Seems you recognize me," he smirked, squinting his cat-like, painted eyes at her. "I must have made quite an impression on one of my journeys to Konoha. Unfortunately, you didn't seem to make quite the same impression. I don't know you at all."

That arrogant son of a…

"My name is Tenten!" She stated, "And don't get so full of yourself. The only reason I know you at all is because I've been training to fight your sister. I don't even know your NAME."

He winced, and she smirked a little when she noted the scowl on his face. Obviously, he did not like being known only by association, being stuck in anyone's shadow. It briefly occurred to her that he probably got that a lot, being Gaara's brother.

"My name is Kankuro," he said fiercely. "And I don't remember Temari mentioning any fight with you, or anyone else recently. I don't think you scheduled this with her at all."

"Then maybe I lied," Tenten fumed impatiently. "I'm going to go fight her, one way or the other. It's been a very long trip and you're very irritating. It's in your best interest to just let me pass!"

Instead of replying, he regarded her silently for a moment. That was sort of confusing to her. She had expected an answer to her demand, more or less, and his silence was awkwardly piercing. Tenten furrowed her brows at him, curious and at the same time, sort of uncomfortable under his gaze. His feline stare was quickly becoming enraging. She could feel her cheeks burning with anger. Was he just going to stand there? The hell was so fascinating? Just as she was about to shout at him to say something, he smirked. His scan of her evidently complete, in his mind a conclusion had been reached.

"Tenten, you said it was?" he said slowly, mockingly, as if testing out her name. "I think I remember you now. Almost four years ago, right? At the Chuunin Exam in your village?"

_Shit,_ she thought, it was better when he did not remember her, instead of remembering her agonizing defeat. Luckily she was already red in the face from anger, or he would have seen her blush in humiliation.

"Yes," he grinned through his kabuki make up, "I know you now. You fought my sister at the preliminaries. She WASTED you, didn't she? Are you holding some kind of grudge for that?" He shook his head sadly, making an infuriating tutting sound. How DARE he look down at her, clicking his tongue so condescendingly! As if he knew anything about it! He brought his gaze back up to meet hers. "That's very sad. She barely lifted a finger to defeat you. You must have been SO embarrassed, when you woke up from your coma. You poor thing." He grinned lowly at her, his voice dripping with mockery. Tenten seethed, her fists clenched tightly at her sides.

"I don't need to hear any of this crap from a battle clown like YOU!" she roared furiously, and was satisfied to see him become notably angered by her comment.

"_'BATTLE CLOWN'_!"

"This has nothing to do with you," she continued, "So stay out of my way! You'll see when I defeat Temari that I am NOT the little girl who was so easily swept aside! I am a kuniochi of the Hidden Leaf Village!"

"BAH!" He scoffed, bitterness more obvious in his voice now, "You're a silly child with a death wish, then. Temari will KILL you, and I'm not joking. An annoying little green leaf, coming to challenge her in her own home! I don't care if you have some stupid grudge. Get over it, and go home!"

"I _refuse_. Let me _pass,_" Tenten said through gritted teeth. She was so enraged right now, she was sure she could kill a whole village. "I've been training for three and a half years for this! I've forfeit time with my family, friends, teammates, everything! She will not defeat me again! And if she does, then by God, let her kill me, for it's all I'm worth! Now let me pass, you arrogant son of a _bitch_!"

Her words hung in the air for a few moments before fading into silence. The look on his face now was not condescending or coy, but contemplative. She cocked her head curiously. He seemed to be trying to make a decision about something. She hoped he would give up and let her pass, because she was running out of breath, and did not feel like arguing with some overprotective little brother all night long.

Then he did it again. That arrogant smirk through those squinty cat eyes. It made her sick.

"Fine," He said it coldly. "If you want to die so bad, it's your call. But you gotta prove to me your worth an effort now, or she's gonna bitch at me for letting you go, and Temari really knows how to bitch. I'll let you fight my sister... but first, you gotta get through ME." With that he slung the large object off his shoulder and set it beside him on the branch. She recognized it as the large dummy wrapped in bandages that he always carried on his back.

"Fight with YOU!" She shouted, angered and at the same time shocked, "That's ridiculous! You're not who I'm here to fight!"

"That's the condition," he replied coolly. "Don't think you can sneak past me. I know this area better than you. Either fight me, or go home."

"This is stupid!" She snapped, "I didn't travel three hours to fight some make-up wearing boy who plays with dolls. I won't waste my time with this!"

"Then get lost," he seethed, his patience wearing thin. "Because I'm not letting you pass."

Tenten was forced to consider this. She believed that he was telling the truth- he would not, under any circumstances, let her pass without a fight. If she won, though, he would have to let her go, but by that point, she would have expended a great deal of her chakra and energy, and would no longer be able to fight Temari on an even scale. If she left, she would appear weak, and prove his point in calling her childish and ridiculous. She was not just going to prove herself to Temari; she wanted to prove it to everyone, including this asshole. She could never fully respect herself as a ninja knowing that she ran away from a fight. Besides, now that he knew what she was up to, he would probably continue to challenge her before she ever got a chance to see Temari- there was no real way around it. God, why did she have to run into him tonight? If only she had known! But it was too late for that now. She narrowed down her choices, and finally, made her decision.

"You asked for it," she said coldly. With that statement, she set her teeth and leapt back a branch, preparing a handful of shuriken.

"That's more like it!" Kankuro grinned, whipping the bandages off Karasu in a flash, revealing his life sized marionette, "The stage is set, and the curtains rise!"

A flash of silver streaked towards him as she released her shuriken, which Karasu quickly deflected. As the puppet swept the throwing stars aside, Tenten disappeared suddenly and reappeared behind Kankuro, simultaneously discharging several kunai at the puppeteer. They struck him in his back, then with a cloud of smoke, and the revelation that her kunai were actually lodged into a block of wood, Karasu's wooden arms met the backside of her skull, sending her flying into a tree. It then shot a poisoned dagger at her landing spot, narrowly missing her as she spun out of the way of the projectile.

Standing up to recollect herself, she felt her leg twitch strangely. Frantically looking down at it, she saw that tied around her ankle was a thin, blue string of chakra. She tried desperately to release it, only to find that it was too late as Karasu's mechanical face was now right in front of her own. She held up a kunai just in time to deflect another poisoned dagger that came from the puppet's wrist, but it had more arms than she did. It forcefully knocked her aside, sending her painfully to the forest floor.

She stood up arduously, wiping some blood from the corner of her mouth. The back of her head bled and stung severely. That really smarted. This was harder than she thought it would be. She might have to use some of her better techniques to fight the guy...

Leaping back atop a branch, she pulled a scroll from a pouch on her side and rapidly unraveled it. Swiping across it the blood she had wiped from her mouth, she twirled it around her in a dizzying motion. Then, from the ink and paper and traces of blood, she began to pull an assortment of weaponry, including kunai, katana, daggers, scythes, wakazashi, shuriken, maces, morning stars, and any number of other instruments and flung them at her enemy, and his puppet.

But by this point, she had lost sight of Kankuro, hiding somewhere in the trees and shrubbery. She flung her weapons across the area, hoping desperately that one would hit him. Her mark was always dead on, but usually she could SEE her target.

Suddenly, dodging her furious barrage, Karasu came flying forward. Tenten quickly pulled a series of invisible wires, recalling her fallen weaponry, causing them come sailing towards the marionette's back. But what did not seem to occur to her was that Karasu was made of wood, and weapons would only do so much to a doll. As a few kunai and other instruments thunked into Karasu's back, she was horrified to discover that it did not seem to affect him at all. His ambush on her continued and for just a moment she froze, unsure of what to do.

It was a moment too long as Karasu's face suddenly opened up, revealing another poisoned dagger. Before she could react, it had plunged the dagger into her right shoulder.

Stunned, Tenten coughed and sputtered as the puppet retracted its knife and smacked her in the side, hurling her once again toward the ground, where she landed with a painful thud on her stomach.

_Shit_, she thought, as her vision began to blur, _this isn't what I was expecting to happen…_ She could barely see her blood pooling on the ground before her, dampening the grass and staining it a deep red. She could not feel the wound. The poison from the dagger had already numbed it, and she did not know how long until it spread through her body completely, destroying her from the inside.

This was never supposed to happen. It was not fair. She was not supposed to fight Kankuro, whom she had spent NO time preparing for. She was supposed to fight Temari. Now she was going to die, alone, between two countries where her comrades would never even find her. She truly was pathetic after all. She should have spent more time preparing, preparing for EVERYTHING- why had it not occurred to her that interference by Temari's brothers was possible? Why did she have to be so reckless, so obstinate? This was not even a mission, so she was not even going to get her name carved on the Hero's Stone in Konoha. Her death would be meaningless.

She could not move. She had taken too many blows to the head, and the poison was affecting her motor skills. Above her, she could barely hear the trees rustling. Perhaps Kankuro was re-wrapping Karasu in its bandages, recognizing his victory. Of course there was no hope in him helping her. There was not even any hope in him telling her family where she was. After all, a ninja from Sand just killed a ninja from Leaf with no apparent motive. That would just get him in trouble.

Tenten never wanted to kill Temari. Just mess her up a little. If Temari died, after all, she would not be able to respect and acknowledge Tenten's strength.

That was all she wanted, respect and acknowledgement. It was all she ever wanted from ANYONE.

As a dizzying blackness overcame her, she began to fight with consciousness. She felt like she was swimming within her own body, drowning, trying desperately to resurface, her attempts futile. Finally, she succumbed to that terrifying darkness, and fell into a deep sleep.

High above her, from the branches of the trees, a pair of squinted eyes observed his fallen enemy. She was lying pathetically on the forest floor in a pool of her own blood. He did not know if she was still conscience or not, but it did not matter. In a couple of hours, she would be dead anyways.

He turned his back on her to return home, when suddenly he froze. For some reason, he could not seem to compel his body to leave her behind.

"Stupid," he said aloud, trying to rationalize with himself, "She was a little idiot who got what was coming to her." As true as he believed those words were, he still found himself glancing back at her helpless little body. One of the buns she kept her brown hair in had come loose when she hit the floor, and now lay disheveled around her face in a sad, blood soaked little braided pigtail.

Did she TELL anyone she would be coming here tonight? Or would he return later to find her body where he had left it? People rarely came through this part, as it was an area between two countries and most citizens preferred to stick to their respective capitols.

A slight feeling of guilt began to creep through him. This miserable little creature soaking in blood before him had not come to fight him at all. She was simply trying to get past him to settle some score she had with his sister. And now, by his actions, she would never get that chance. He did not have to be so hard; he could have gone easy on her. He did not think, though, that she would be so inept. She had probably spent all her efforts in training for her fight with Temari that she lost sight of a broader range of abilities. She was such a lousy ninja. Even Shino had been a better fight than her, and he used friggan BUGS.

Kankuro straightened his composure as he reasoned with himself. Ninjas were not supposed to let themselves become overruled by emotions. Remember to be as cold and steely as a knife, because that is what you are. Your enemy is simply your enemy, another knife, and nothing more. Not a human with thoughts and emotions.

Not a pathetic little pigtailed kuniochi with a reckless desire for strength and an ambitious heart.

He turned his back on her again and began his trek home.

…

"Shit."

* * *

It was very late at night, and he was the only one in the training field. Night after night, while the rest of Konoha slept, he trained his body. He still could not use any Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, so Rock Lee trained hard to be the best at Taijutsu, not to be outmatched by anyone.

He counted each kick as he demolished a wooden training pole. He was on 1,347 now, and when he reached 2,000, he would switch and kick with his left leg. His knuckles were already bloodied from the 2,000 hits they had each received. After this, 2,000 squats and he would call it a night. After all, a tired ninja was useless on missions.

Rock Lee stopped suddenly when he heard a rustling from the surrounding trees. Was someone else awake at this hour? Curiously, he looked around, stepping cautiously towards the trees.

"Oi," Rock Lee was startled by the sound of a voice from the trees. He jumped slightly, and faced the direction of the sound.

"Who's there?" He shouted. Because it was so dark, he could not see them through the trees, and he did not recognize their low, drawling voice.

"This yours?" The voice asked, and a large object was suddenly dropped from the branches. Lee outstretched his arms in time to catch the unconscious body of his teammate, Tenten. He gasped at the sight of her. A large gash had been poorly bandaged on her shoulder, and her shirt was stained with blood. One of her pigtails was hanging down limply, matted with the same dried substance from some bruises on her head. Lee looked up at the trees in outraged horror.

"What did you do to her!" The boy demanded furiously, holding Tenten protectively.

"Ask her yourself," the mysterious voice replied in a bemused fashion, "When she's conscience, that is. By the way, you may want to get that thing to a hospital. She absorbed quite a bit of poison."

Lee's face twisted with shock. He began to fill with rage. He would have jumped up there and beaten them senseless if he had not been left with this sudden responsibility. He did not know what happened, but he was sure Tenten would be able to tell him. He scowled up at the trees.

"I won't forget this!" Lee swore, and then took off at his fastest speed to the Konoha hospital.

"Do tell," the voice mused, watching the boy go through feline eyes, before turning to leave him self, putting the whole mess behind him.


	2. Disqualified

Kankuro aimed for the closest sturdy branch, and then finding a foothold he sprung off, aiming for the next available limb as he tore through the forest that surrounded Konoha. Even though he was from the country of Wind, he had always rather liked trees. There were far more hiding places available, which was important not only as a ninja, but as one who's best techniques required him to remain in the shadows as his weapon fought for him. Besides that, the desert was swelteringly hot in the day and frigidly cold in the night. He liked the cooler, consistent temperature of the forest. That was why Konoha had always been nice to visit, but he unfortunately never went there to enjoy it. He had only ever been there on missions. After all, if he did not have a passport, people there tended to get testy he noticed. They were all too paranoid, like he was ever going to go there to wreak havoc.

He would of course never reveal this secret to anyone, but Konoha was too nice for havoc. It really was. They did not seem to realize there how lucky they were to be constantly surrounded by trees.

Even if the ninjas from the Country of Fire WERE all crazy. He could name several off the top of his head.

After several hours of barreling through the maple and oak between the borders of the Village of Leaf and the Village of Sand, Kankuro still had no real purpose, and was not really going anywhere. He was not going to Konoha (that would raise too many questions) but he did not want to go home just now, either. He had just finished a mission with his brother and sister to annihilate some nobleman and his bodyguards, and was still wired up from the fight.

Besides that, he had gotten into another argument with Temari afterwards (she gets so angry and lashes out at everyone when she screws up... Maybe if she watched where she was going, she would not have tripped over him?) and so he did not feel like going home just to have her bitch and moan all night. They got the mission done, after all. Anyway, nobody except Kankuro and Gaara were alive to remember her undignified fall tail over teakettle into the brush.

The beating he got from her afterwards, though, was very much worth the teasing she was never going to hear the end of, starting tomorrow.

It was beginning to get late, now. Approximately three hours after sunset. Taking into consideration the time of year and current time zone, that would have made it about... midnight, or so? A proper time to consider going home. It was not a long distance away, since he had not been going in any real straight line the entire night. He sighed, disappointment obvious on his painted face, and changed his direction.

He stopped suddenly when he saw something flicker out of the corner of his eye. Years of ninja training kicked in, and with cat-like reflexes, he threw himself into the shadows of an old ash tree, and waited, and watched.

Silence. The forest was dark, and still. Was he wrong? It was easy to overreact. A forest creature of some kind could have scurried across a branch and startled him...

There, again- something was definitely moving. It seemed to be going cautiously, carefully- as if awaiting an ambush. Animals did not await ambushes. This was definitely another ninja. He set his teeth, his fist gripping the bandages that wrapped Karasu, ready to release them at a moment's notice...

Kankuro watched the shadow vigilantly through his squinted eyes, barely daring to breathe lest he should give away his position, if they did not already know. He did not know who they were or what they were doing here, and he certainly did not want to find out the hard way. They moved again- they were headed this way. They would probably pass right by him, possibly through the break in the canopy where the moonlight poured through. He would be able to see them.

He was right. The shadow stepped directly under the canopy and paused, looking around them. And, just as the mysterious stranger stepped into the moonlight, revealing itself at last, Kankuro had a revelation. Three days ago, at almost this exact same time, in nearly this exact same place, he had fought a little green leaf with brown pigtails curled into buns.

And, unless his eyes deceived him, here she was again. How remarkable.

Her hair re-tied, and a couple of bandages visible on the right side through her short-sleeved Chinese style blouse, she looked around tentatively, yet determinately.

He could not hold back his grin. Nor could he refrain from his urge to make her life a little more miserable.

Tenten warily eyed her surroundings. It was silent; still; and dark. But she would not be fooled. It was sort of silly for her to think that he would be here again, unless he came to this place every night at the same time. She had almost managed to convince herself that it was a coincidence not to be repeated, but she was not going to take any chances. If he was here, she would be ready for him this time. To lose to him twice consecutively would just be unbearably humiliating. If this fight HAD to be repeated, it would certainly not have the same results. Not this time. Not after her defeat had caused her to miss a mission with Lee and Neji due to her injury, even though she had argued that it was only slight and assured them she could still go. Not after the scolding she gave herself for being too narrow minded, too focused on one goal, to see other ranges of possibilities. She would never risk THAT again. It nearly cost her her life.

Somehow, miraculously... Only NEARLY she was spared. But how?

Cautiously darting through the trees between the border of Hidden Leaf and Hidden Sand, she stopped briefly under a moonbeam, adjusting her eyes to the light to survey her surroundings. Even though she had sworn to be more careful, she had not forgotten her goal, and had every intention of attaining it. This time, Tenten would not fight Kankuro... Tonight, she would certainly face Temari.

She leapt out of the moonlight, heading forward. She seemed to be in the clear... That annoying boy would not be expecting her to come back so soon. This time, she would surprise everyone.

Kankuro watched her as she dashed through the trees, looking around her carefully as if awaiting something. Evidently, she did not see him, or sense his presence at all. She really was a lousy ninja, but with an impressive recovery time, admittedly. That wound he gave her should have had her bed set for at least a week, especially after it took him three hours to get her to the hospital in her hometown; the patch-work job he did of bandaging her had been a temporary quick-fix. And yet here she was, jumping around after only three days. Konohagakure doctors must be quite talented... That must be it; a girl like that certainly could not be out after only three days on her own stamina. He made a mental note to do some research on the difference between the Wind Country and Fire Country hospitals. Apparently, the gap between them was considerable.

As she began to move away from him, he slowly began to follow; carefully, so as not to attract any attention to himself- he would hate to spoil this opportunity for an awesome entrance. He intended to take every advantage of a surprise attack. With stealth and speed, he dodged ahead of her, cutting off her path- the several hours he had spent in these woods would now prove advantageous, as he now knew the area quite well.

Unfortunately for Tenten, and despite all her best efforts, Kankuro had been training his stealth abilities for many years, outmatched by almost no one. A melee expert could not arguably compare. So she had no idea that he was even in these woods, let alone setting up the very ambush she was so careful to avoid. She did not know, in fact, until the very last minute, when all of a sudden Karasu came crashing down from above her, stopping just an inch in front of her face, and dangling there, eerily, on his chakra strings. Startled, Tenten let out a short scream and jumped back, discharging two kunai at the source of her shock protectively from each hand, gasping for breath. The enemy did not respond to her attack, despite being hit dead center; and just as she began to recognize that marionette, a low, drawling laugh emanated from the trees. She grimaced.

"Did I scare you?" Kankuro asked, smirking from his hiding spot with twisted pleasure as he watched the rage rise to her face.

"YOU!" Tenten shouted, looking furiously around her, "What are you doing here!"

"Catching flies, apparently," he smiled. "You're back early. I expected you to return, but in only three days? That's downright impressive."

"So what, were you waiting for me?" Tenten scoffed, trying to locate her assailant. His voice seemed to be coming from the puppet dangling ominously in front of her. Damn, even after all her caution, she was still at his mercy! How had this happened? She concentrated on staying focused. Panicking would be the worst thing to do now.

"Are you so bored that you sit out here every night just to see who drops by?" she continued assuredly, then added with a self-righteous smirk "Or maybe, you're in LOVE with me."

"Don't say stupid things," his voice replied detachedly, "You're the farthest from my type."

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow, "And is 'your type' made of WOOD?" she crossed her arms smugly, awaiting an outraged response.

"Naw," he replied coolly, without a trace of irritation. "My type has bigger breasts."

"WHY, YOU–... How DARE you!" Her face visibly reddened with humiliation and rage as she crossed her arms protectively over her chest, infuriated, turning every direction, trying desperately to locate him. The sound of his laughter surrounding her set her teeth on edge. She closed her eyes and began mentally counting to ten, trying to keep a level head. Obviously, he was trying to fluster her. It worked for a moment, but she would not be beaten by him. If he was forced to resort to such lowbrow and lewd comments, he must be intimidated by her. Still, it was embarrassing how horribly that had backfired.

"Come out here!" She demanded into the trees, tired of all this stupid banter. "Hiding is the most cowardly act!"

"So claim the brash," was his reply. "Hiding is the CLEVEREST act."

"So say the WEAK. I assume you're going to hold to your stupid condition," she spat menacingly, "And not let me pass. Is that correct?"

"Very much so," the voice from the puppet replied. "What kind of man would I be if I went back on my word?"

"Then let's get this over with!" She courageously demanded, "So that I can defeat you quickly and get on with it!"

"That's the attitude! You better be more of a challenge this time. I'm not dragging your sorry ass home again!"

For the briefest of moments, Tenten was caught off guard.

_Again_

"Come at me!" She quickly recovered and readied herself into a battle stance. Unfortunately, she would have to wait to attack until she could flush out his location. Otherwise, her weapons would go to waste on his doll.

"As you wish it!" The puppet replied gruesomely, lunging towards her with killing intent. Tenten weaved deftly to the side, maneuvering lithely behind it, trying to stay out of its path but at the same time watching to see if she could not find its chakra strings. If she could find them well enough, she could follow them to the puppet master's hideout….

As she dodged behind Karasu, it spun its mechanical head a full 180 degrees to face her with a grisly clicking sound, and the rest of its body followed suit, mirroring the head and changing its direction to sweep at her again, opening up its wrist to reveal a mean-looking dagger that shot from its mechanized scabbard like a switchblade. It slashed at her and she jumped out of the way, performing a swift hand seal as she did so. Suddenly, three more of her appeared beside her, and quickly the four of them spread out in different directions.

She knew these replications would be entirely useless in a fight, but they would at least confuse him, she hoped- after all, his puppet could only follow one at a time. Meanwhile, it would give her time to find Kankuro's whereabouts.

It seemed to work for a moment. Karasu paused, confused it seemed, and did not follow any of them. But Kankuro had seen this trick before. She was not the only one who thought she could confuse him in this manner. And he had a neat little countermeasure.

Behind each of her copies, there suddenly appeared Karasu, as Kankuro mimicked her technique, creating four bunshin clones of his marionette. Each one lashed forward, and as replication hit replication, both dissipated. Finally, there was only one real Tenten and one real Karasu.

Tenten grimaced, trying to formulate a new plan quickly as Karasu came forward again, weapons out. She held up a kunai to deflect its knife, and swiftly jammed a second kunai into its wrist as she held it in her block, hoping to disable the device and maybe break the weapon off. Karasu reeled back its newly dysfunctional wrist, and with two of its other three arms, struck Tenten hard in the side, sending her painfully into a tree.

It was at about that moment, as the blood began to seep through the bandages on her right arm, that Tenten realized her mistake in assuming she could win any fight without actually healing from the previous one first. Now her shoulder stung and bled, and that would probably get in her way. And worse yet, to her dismay, she was not the only one to notice.

"That's a nasty handicap you have there," Kankuro's voice mocked her through his puppet's mouth. "Guess you're not as impressive as I thought. Challenging anybody with that wound? That's just stupid. If you really thought you'd fight my sister today, you should have been ready. Tisk, tisk."

"Shut up!" She demanded, holding her bleeding shoulder. "It's fine. You'll see that I can still fight!"

"Well, I certainly hope so!" He replied with enthusiasm, "Because you haven't proven to be much of a challenge yet!"

"Then I'll just have to show you what I'm REALLY worth!" She proudly exclaimed, throwing two handfuls of shuriken at Karasu as she lunged forward. The puppet briefly fell back, its balance momentarily thrown off, and she speedily ducked behind it, racing past it directly towards Kankuro.

He was so arrogant, he had to stop and scold her for being stupid. But while he laughed at her, she was able to follow the chakra strings to his real hideout. Now, she could finally take both the puppet and the puppeteer out at once. As she ran forward, she unraveled a scroll, and began twirling it around it in a hypnotic fashion as she summoned her instruments.

Kankuro was a little surprised to see Tenten running right at him, having finally discovered his location. He quickly performed a few hand seals as she unraveled her scroll and began to summon her arsenal. She then fired her canons, letting fly with her kunai and shuriken and all other manner of weapons.

She assumed as much when she saw that the moment her weapons hit him, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke, to be replaced with a block of wood. So she attacked the surrounding area, hoping to strike him with a lucky shot, or if nothing else, discern his new location. She turned, throwing more weapons behind her where she had come from, being careful to watch for Karasu.

She realized it too late. Just as her scroll ran out of gifts to give her and fluttered harmlessly to the forest floor; Just as she heard the sound of the familiar puff of smoke, as the kawarimi block of wood Kankuro had previously used to disappear turned BACK into Kankuro; just as she realized that, to her horror, he had used a genjutsu illusion to make it APPEAR as though she had struck him with her weapons, and waited in the form of that block of wood until she ran out of weapons; he had already struck. She tried to turn quickly to defend herself from him, as he slashed a kunai upwards at her chest. She jumped back quickly before he could strike again, and readying herself atop a limb of a tree, she held two kunai defensively before her and faced him.

Kankuro stood before her, not bothering to hide this time. He was almost enragingly casual, in fact. But something seemed strange. She raised a curious eyebrow when it occurred to her that he was not really looking at her at all. Why was that? How could he be so confident that he did not even bother to face his enemy? His feeble attack had not cut her, although she had only barely managed to dodge-

Slowly, with dawning realization, a look of horror spread across her features. Tenten's face drained of all its color, and then quickly turned at least seventeen different shades of red.

She crossed her arms protectively over her chest as she realized the absolute crime he had committed. He had managed, probably on purpose, to cut the frog knots right off her blouse; and not only that, he had split her bra right open.

She balled her fists, her knuckles white. Words could not express her rage. But she was going to try to find a couple that came close.

"YOU SICK, DISGUSTING PERVERT!" She screamed at him at the top of her lungs, "THAT'S NO WAY TO FIGHT!"

"Fighting is exploiting your enemy's weakness," he replied coolly, still not really facing her. "You can't get mad at me for doing just that."

"OH, YES I CAN!"

"Do so, then. It doesn't change the fact. But now what?" He smirked, "Can you fight like that? I doubt you brought a spare with you. I'm sure you won't be able to concentrate, and throwing weapons with one hand over your chest would be a little awkward."

"Don't think I'm beaten by something like this!" She hollered, still holding her blouse closed, "It may even prove to be an advantage, if I can succeed in distracting you!"

He rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't call _that_ a distraction."

More than anything else so far, that enraged her the most. But before she could voice her objection, he continued.

"Anyway, I doubt you have the guts to go very far like that. You have too much dignity, don't you? Think carefully now, Can you fight me seriously in that state? You were at a disadvantage to begin with, and now you won't be able to keep your head clear. You'll be too angry. And you can't beat me if you fight on emotion. You need to fight with your MIND." He smirked menacingly at her. Tenten scowled, seething. The worst of it was he was right. She probably could not continue in this state. Her head was too full of rage. And besides that, he had managed to come that close to her skin while only barely trying. It was obvious that if he wanted too, he could have done much worse. The victor was clear. Her head lowered in shame. All these years... and she still wasn't worth much of anything. Something as ridiculous as this really was going to stop her. She tried to think of what any other female shinobi would have done in this situation. Sakura might have stopped, she was more female than she was ninja, but Ino probably would have kept fighting. Tenten tried to concentrate on her nindo. What would Tsunade have done?

Then she quickly decided that she didn't really want to think about what Tsunade would have done or the mental image would have been with her forever.

She raised her eyes to Kankuro, her hatred burning.

"You're disgusting," she hissed lowly.

"I'm considerate," he replied. "I didn't want to tear you up like last time. I only wanted to disable you so that you could go home by yourself and heal that wound like a good girl. You see? I didn't even make you bleed." He grinned at her, making her want to punch him in the teeth.

"…If you ever… _EVER_ think of doing something like this to me again…" She glared at him, her eyes filled with loathing. "I will MAKE you sorry."

"Fair enough," he replied detachedly. "I think you've learned your lesson. Besides, now you know how it works. Now admit that I've won, and go fix that shoulder of yours."

Tenten was silent for a moment. She considered pulling out a few scrolls and performing the Rising Twin Star Dragon right at this very moment. He never would have expected it. Why didn't she ever bring a sewing kit with her? It doesn't take up much space, and she's been thinking about doing it for the longest time... even a _safety pin_ would work…

"…Don't think I'm done yet!" She finally snapped at him. "This is a cheap win! You only get it by default. I'll be back tomorrow! And every day afterwards, if it takes me that long to defeat you!"

"In that case," he replied lowly with an eerie smile, "I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

This chapter may have seemed immature and the fight scene might have sounded a bit out of character…. But do you know how hard it is to write the same friggin' fight scene fifty times in as many different ways? Lemme tell you about it. It's REALLY hard. Luckily, I've made best friends with thesaurus dot com. You know who I like? You know who I like? The guys who made that website. I apologize for Tenten's stupid loss. I needed this chapter to end with her not bleeding, if at all possible. She really doesn't deserve to be portrayed this way but this story is harder to write than you think,

And now here's something to entertain you. Outtakes, by an (anonymous) Neji fan. Funniest bit is he wrote this before he knew what I had planned for chapter 2. I guess everyone wants to see Tenten topless!

"That's more like it!" Kankuro grinned, whipping the bandages off Karasu in a flash, revealing his life sized marionette, "And the curtains rise!"

Tenten's shirt suddenly falls off revealing her massive breasts to all the world to see. And Neji's come in and kicks Kankuro's ass! and runs away with Tenten to ...I don't know Vegas to get married. They live happily ever after.

THE END!


	3. Disabled

She sped gracefully through the trees, muscles tense, slightly damp from sweat and only scarcely battered from the fight, throwing kunai without hesitation. As predicted, they hit their target, but it didn't cease its pursuit. She hadn't expected it to. She had finally come to realize that she could by no means stop Karasu with weapons, as it had no vital organs to hit; however, she could very slowly dismantle it, piece by piece. Then, Kankuro would be left with no weapon at all, and she would have the advantage. But as long as He remained hidden, fighting from the shadows with his life sized marionette; as a martial artist and melee expert, she did not have as high a success rate. Even though she knew the best way to destroy a puppet was to destroy the puppeteer, she was also forced to admit that eight times out of ten she could not FIND the bastard. Kankuro was pretty clever when it came to hiding, and because of that, she had lost many fights.

Karasu appeared suddenly before her and slashed a poison-tipped dagger at her, barely missing her throat as she dodged the attack. She threw forward a kama, and it thunked into one of the dummy's four wooden arms at least halfway. With a tug, she pulled an invisible wire and the kama flew back towards her, spraying sawdust like blood. Tenten smirked, catching the weapon. Another hit to that spot, and she would undoubtedly be able to take out that arm. In previous fights, she had been able to disable two arms and a leg, before Kankuro had found some miraculously way to render her immobile and win the fight.

As promised, Tenten had been returning to this same wooded area between the borders of Fire and Wind at this same time every night for the past two weeks, as late spring slowly melted into early summer. And, as promised, Kankuro had been there every night to greet her. Every night she swore that this would be their last fight, that this time she would defeat him and get past this ridiculous preliminary match so that she could move on to the boss fight with Temari... But, every night, he managed to find some way to win. It had at some point for Tenten stopped becoming humiliating and become a challenge, an obstacle she had to overcome to attain her goal. By day she trained, and by night she fought, hoping every time that this time she would stand over her fallen foe, victorious, and with a self righteous smile, force him to acknowledge her strength at last.

It couldn't possibly be much longer until that day. Even Kankuro would have to admit that she had been getting better, and started catching up to him in skill. Since she had stopped bragging and started taking him seriously, she had been able to keep up.

But, in the end, she still lost.

Tenten dislodged a handful of shuriken at Karasu, aiming for the crack she'd made with the kama. Karasu dodged awkwardly, and only one made it in- but one was enough. She carefully aimed a kunai at the shuriken sticking out of Karasu's wooden arm, and smiled broadly when it hit, forcing the shuriken further in, causing the arm to snap and fall to the forest floor.

"Stop that!" She heard Kankuro's disembodied voice demand, "That's annoying to fix!"

"If you didn't want your dolly broken, you wouldn't play so roughly with it," she teased.

"You're the one who's breaking it," he replied, and she thought she heard the slightest hint of a pout. "I'll just have to repay you in kind!"

"You'll have to catch me first!" She laughed, pulling out her ever-famous scroll of summoning and unraveling it with a flick of her wrist.

"Oh no you don't, I know what that is. That's that Scroll of Bad Shit." Kankuro grinned, as Karasu came towards her, weapons out. "I'll slice you up before you can finish your technique!"

She whirled the parchment around her as the puppet raced towards her, but just as it's bladed wrist was about to make contact with the paper, it fell under the crushing weight of a spiked morning star.

It was too late. The parchment spat out weapons in all directions. Kankuro swore silently. He had already learned that he could not defeat her while she was in there, he could not get close; but if he could perhaps destroy the scroll before too much came out, she would not have as many toys to play with.

Karasu tore its hand violently out from under the morning star, and continued forward, suffering the many blows of her arsenal. The danger was minimal, since Karasu could still move even with a katana sticking out of its head, but the damage ended up being costly. She had at some point learned that she could tear Karasu to shreds with her weapons, and since then, Kankuro had spent every morning repairing his marionette (much to Temari's curiosity).

A sword came flying towards Karasu. Kankuro manipulated the chakra strings, and with a swift motion, the puppet managed to catch the instrument mid-air, and slash at the offending scroll.

As it tore into two halves, the spell was broken, and Tenten found that she no longer could summon her weapons. But that was fine; she had a different plan in store. She had only barely been aiming for Karasu; if she had, he'd be firewood by now.

All around her, the surrounding trees and shrubs were impaled on any manner of shining, silver weapons. Even the ground was completely spiked. But she didn't miss, and she hadn't been aiming haphazardly. Carefully, she scanned each of the instruments, while keeping an eye on Karasu who had just reeled back slightly, apparently preparing for it's next attack. She didn't have much time now-

There, at last! Slightly northwest, barely ten yards away. Just as Karasu came forward, Kankuro jerked his arm to pull the puppet's strings. Tenten caught his slight movement in the reflection of one of her scattered kunai. She smirked. Perfect… just as she had planned it. Memorizing that spot, She leapt out of the way of Karasu's attack. Now, she had her own puppetry to perform. Landing atop a tree branch, Tenten pulled the invisible wires attached to many of her weapons. As the scythes and swords and kamas and flails came rushing back towards her, she swung her arms, and they all changed direction, aiming for the marionette. The wires swung around it, left and right, faster and faster, encircling the puppet until they ran out of wire to tie and instruments thunked into his wooden body. Karasu was now completely immobile, as the wires and weapons held it tight in their prison.

Using this opportunity, Tenten lunged forward, scooping up a katana as she did so, racing towards the spot where she had seen Kankuro's reflection. With a yell, she slashed hard at the shrubbery he was hiding behind, and at the sword's powerful stroke, the helpless leaves scattered and flew pitifully to the forest floor.

Gripping the katana fiercely, Tenten clenched her teeth. For a moment, the forest was silent.

Not there. That little sneak had disappeared again. She was so sure this time, too. The plan was perfect. How could he have caught on? Where did he go?

Still, his puppet was still useless now. It was just a matter of hide-and-seek.

She turned slowly, surveying the area. Her weapons will still scattered, she could still catch a glimpse of him in the reflection. Her eyes narrowed, studying. The forest was so silent now… unnervingly so.

He was spying on her from somewhere, watching her every move. The longer it took her to find him, the more time he had to formulate his next plan. She had to act fast.

From above her, she heard the sound of leaved rustling. Her face blanched. "Shit!" she swore, turning her head upwards quickly, "Above me?"

But it was too late, as Kankuro swept down from the branches, ambushing her. In one swift movement, he landed behind her, grabbing her around the waist, pinning her left arm to her side, and gripping her hand around the hilt of the katana, twisting it upward so that it met her own neck.

"Tag," he grinned lowly, with a soft chuckle. Tenten scowled, Barely daring to move. She couldn't see his face from this angle, but she was sure it was twisted with sick pleasure.

"Doesn't mean you've won," she hissed. "I could get out of this."

"Oh, really?" he smirked. "Then you must have forgotten that I can do this."

Without releasing his grip, he pointed his finger at Karasu, making a strange gesture. The puppet's head spun around eerily with a sickening clacking sound, and its head detached and flew forward, opening its gruesome mechanical mouth to reveal a spinning drill.

Tenten unconsciously winced back into Kankuro, sucking in her breath and squeezing her eyes shut as the doll's head flew towards her face. While her eyes were closed, she felt Kankuro make some kind of gesture with his hand. Nothing happened. Slowly, she opened her eyes. Karasu's head was dangling inches in front of her eyes, its face still open to reveal that terrifying drill. The head rocked and swayed, tied to a branch above it with a chakra string, looking horrifying in the moonlight. Disgusted, Tenten tried to back away from it, but found she could only back further in Kankuro, who still held her tight.

"Still think you can win?" He grinned evilly. "Make any movement at all, and either Karasu or I could rip you to shreds."

"…How?" Was all she could manage to ask.

"You aren't the only one with good eyes," he replied. "I could see my reflection in those kunai, too. As soon as your eyes fell on me, I knew how you found me. So while you tangled up Karasu, I relocated."

Her muscled tensed even further when she felt the blade being pressed a little closer to her flesh. But it was nothing compared to the heat of his mouth next to her ear as he whispered menacingly "By the way, what you did to Karasu was very clever; but a real nuisance. That's going to take me forever to untangle. Maybe I should do the same thing to you?"

"I wish you luck," she hissed, as a hot blush spread across her face and down her neck. She needed to get out of here, but she was caught and surrounded. Karasu's disembodied head hung disturbingly in front of her. It was a wretched image, and distracted her from thinking clearly. She squeezed her eyes shut to avoid the sight of it. Surely from his angle, Kankuro would not be able to see that. She had to concentrate, to think of a way out of this. But instead of a clever escape route, Tenten found that without her eyes, she could only seem to concentrate on the sound of his breath in her ear, the smell of his clothes, and the rising and falling of his chest pressed to her back as he breathed.

Why the hell wasn't he loosening his grip? It was obvious that he'd won. She had no chance of victory. Maybe he was waiting for her to admit it?

She suddenly started to feel claustrophobic. She needed to get out of there. She did not want him to touch her anymore- could not handle him being this close. It was not the first time he'd been forced to attack with his own hands, but it was certainly the first time he'd grappled her. If she did not get him to let go soon, she was going to panic.

"Fine," she admitted, her eyes still shut to avoid the sight of Karasu. "You win. Let go of me."

He smiled deviously. Of course he had won. He would always win. And he very well intended to keep it that way, if he ever wanted to keep around his favorite toy. After all, if he was not having any fun, he would not have bothered to come back every night for the past two weeks. He didn't have THAT much conviction. He would rather have the evenings to himself.

But as it so happened, he rather liked Tenten, the way a cat liked a mouse. He liked to let her think she was clever, think she had finally escaped his reach; and just as she felt safe, he came forward with his claws and snatched her up. The entertainment he got out of it was far greater the cost of repairs on Karasu. It was his driving ambition for training in the daytime. He needed to stay on top, to continue his winning streak, before The Mouse learned how to break his claws.

Kankuro tightened his grip around Tenten, savoring his win, and found himself surprised at how very small she actually was. He had known she was lithe and petite, but somehow in his grasp, it felt like he could break her. His hand was clamped atop hers on the hilt of the katana, and her fingers were amazingly small and thin…. She really was just like a mouse. Complete with little round buns as ears atop her head.

Her muscles were tense, and her breathing was heavy. He could tell she didn't like being caught in his grip, but was equally averse to the katana at her neck and the drill in front of her eyes, those being the reasons she had not yet escaped. She seemed to be trying to pull away from them, but could only seem to press her back further in Kankuro's chest.

He couldn't help but notice, as his heart rate increased ever so slightly with her movements. She was warm, a little damp from perspiration, and she smelled like polished steel and shampoo.

A light blush spread across his face as he quickly banished those thoughts, deciding that he had held her in this pin long enough, maybe too long, in fact. But there was one more thing he wanted to see before he let her go. Kankuro closed his eyes and concentrated on the chakra string connecting him to Karasu's ghoulish floating head. In his mind, an image blurred into focus, as he moved his vision from his own head to the eyes of his puppet.

He wanted to see the look on her face. And what a surprise he got, to see that her eyes were squeezed shut.

His mouth upturned into a coy smirk, then lifted into a grin, as he leaned forward again, whispering eerily into her ear; "Why are your eyes shut?"

At that statement, Tenten's eyes flew open in shock. How could he tell from behind? He could not… he could not possibly see through Karasu's eyes!

He felt her wince at his words; a short gasp escaped her lips. With a menacing laugh, he asked "Are you afraid?…"

"Yeah," she replied bravely. "I'm afraid your stupid doll is going to stab my eyes out. I've already lost, so why do you feel the need to torment me?"

"Because you keep breaking Karasu," he replied. "You don't seem to realize what kind of a pain it is to have to fix him every morning."

"That comes with having a great big toy as a weapon. If you didn't want him broken, you'd fight with something _practical_."

"'Practical' or not, I've been defeating YOU just fine, haven't I?"

Tenten shifted uncomfortably, trying to break his grip. His hold on her was slowly driving her insane.

"Let go of me!" She demanded. "Or I'll start to think you LIKE this."

"Are you getting uncomfortable?" He mused, "Am I making you nervous?"

"No," she replied sharply, "You're getting makeup in my hair."

Kankuro rolled his eyes. "Its not 'makeup'," He corrected, "It's ceremonial Kabuki paint."

"Then you're getting ceremonial Kabuki makeup in my hair, and it's pissing me off! Let go, already!" She snapped. Kankuro shook his head sadly, and finally released her. She leapt quickly out of the way, relieved to finally be free from his awkward hold on her, to be embraced only by the suddenly very strikingly cold night air. A decidedly safe distance away, she faced him, her arms crossed over her chest defiantly. Across from her, he sat down lazily on a tree stump, watching her through his squinted feline eyes, smirking. He didn't say anything, just watched as she was suddenly struck with curiosity.

"Why do you wear that paint, anyways?" she asked. "Especially when it's just us. There's no one else around. Why are you hiding?"

He was silent for a moment, and she noticed his face fall into a slight frown. He then turned it back into a coy smile, as if his expression had never changed at all.

"I was wondering when you would ask that," he admitted. "Most people ask by the second day they know me, or even the first. You have better manners, it seems."

And he meant it, too. He heard that question a lot. He knew that someday she would ask about it. After all, it obviously was not any kind of clan marking, as she had seen his siblings and they had nothing of the sort. It was all personal choice. And as long as she continued to see him every night, it was only a matter of time until questions arose, when pure fighting became tiresome. For her to wait two weeks before asking anything about him… she must have expected to get past him much sooner, and not have to bother with personal affairs.

She must be finally viewing him as an individual opponent, as opposed to an obstacle in her path.

"I didn't know you were expecting me to ask," Tenten stated, sort of curiously, "Or that you had me timed. Was there a pool? I hope you won a bet."

"Nothing like that," he replied casually, waving his hand dismissively. "I'm just impressed, is all. Why are you curious, all of a sudden? It doesn't seem like something that would interest you."

"I just want to know what's behind the mask," she said, sort of softly, lowering her arms to her sides, as if trying to see through him at that moment. Kankuro's lips lifted into a small smile, a genuine smile.

"Maybe someday I'll tell you all about it."

"I'll defeat you before 'someday' happens."

"And then you'll never see me again?"

Tenten was silent. She had no response. There was no reason for her to continue seeing Kankuro after she had defeated him; after all, that was the whole basis of their relationship. She had no interest in Kankuro. Temari was her target.

But at the same time, after she defeated Temari, there was no reason why she would never see Kankuro again.

"Let me see your face." It wasn't a demand; it was more like a question in fact.

"Why?" He asked, a coy smile on his face.

"To know who you are," she replied simply. "To see who I'm fighting."

"Maybe that's none of your business," He stated. Tenten frowned at him, and her face became visibly offended.

"Fine," she rolled her eyes. "It was a stupid question, anyways. Forget it."

"What will I get, in exchange?" He broke her off, his face still coy, curious. Tenten raised an eyebrow at him.

"In exchange?"

"I don't show just anyone my beautiful face. I have an image to maintain, after all. I'll show you. If you make it worth my while. Now, what do I get in exchange?"

"What do you want?" She seemed a little skeptical, sort of suspicious. Kankuro laughed.

"Nothing BAD. Maybe a gesture of kindness. As opposed to your usual barrage of weapons."

She furrowed her eyebrows. What kind of gesture of kindness could she offer to someone like him? She had never felt any inclination to do anything nice for the person she was trying to defeat in combat. She looked around, trying to think. It wasn't important even, just sort of a suggestion at the time. She had been a little curious at the moment, and she could drop it any time. But now she somehow found herself concentrating on what she could do for Kankuro, in exchange for something she had wanted to know on a whim.

_This is stupid,_ she thought, glancing towards the still tied and how headless form of Karasu wrapped in wires and weapons. And at that moment, just before giving up and telling him to forget the whole thing, she thought of something.

"I'll help you untangle Karasu," she suggested. She was surprised when Kankuro laughed in response.

"You were going to do that _anyways_. You think I'm letting you leave with him looking like That?" he chuckled. Tenten stuck out her lip in a mock pout.

"Then how about I go easy on him next time?" She asked.

"Don't do anything that will end up costing you a victory," he grinned. She scowled at him.

"What, then?" she demanded impatiently. This game was getting irritating.

"How about you wear your hair down," he suggested without the slightest hesitation. Tenten paused, for a moment confused. Her hair? He was interested in her hair? _She_ was not even interested in her hair. She just put it this way to keep it out of her face. It never for a moment crossed her mind that someone might care what it looked like. It was really the only style she knew how to tie it in.

"…That's it?" she found herself asking, however silly it may have sounded when it was said aloud. Kankuro nodded astutely.

"Yeah. That's it."

"Sure, that's fine," she said with a hint of a laugh. What did she care if she wore her hair down for a night? If that was all he wanted, she had no complaints. "I'll wear my hair down tomorrow, and you wipe off your makeup. And leave the hat."

"The hat was never a part of this," he smirked.

"It is, now!" She commanded. "It's a dumb hat. You look like a bat."

"I _like_ this hat!" He defended with a hint of a whine in his voice.

"You can go ahead and like it, but that's part of the deal. I get to see your WHOLE face. You can't hide behind _anything_."

"Fine," he agreed with a smile. What a demanding woman she was. "Then it's settled. Tomorrow night. Now," he stood up off the tree stump, "Help me untie Karasu, or you aren't leaving tonight."

"Fine," she agreed. "I wanted those wires back, anyhow. So don't cut them, I'm taking them home."

"Right. I'll treat your weapons the same way you treat mine."

"Don't you DARE!"

He laughed in response.


	4. Pinned

Temari walked into the living room and was surprised briefly to discover an annoyingly all too common sight. Kankuro sat in the center of the room, cross-legged on the floor, with a wrench between his teeth, screwing a bolt into Karasu. He was wearing his "comfortable clothes", a black T-shirt with his personal crest emblazoned on the front and plain black pants, and no makeup. The locks of hair that did not fit into the pathetic little ponytail at the base of his neck hair hung in wild, unkempt light brown strands around his face. His attention was concentrated on re-attaching Karasu's head to his neck, his narrow eyes focusing intently on the mechanical nightmare before him. Pieces and parts of the puppet surrounded Kankuro, including an almost entirely emptied out toolbox, nuts and bolts, screws, sawdust, wood shavings, and unused pieces of lumber.

Temari shook her head irritably, stepping over the mess towards her younger brother, and set down a small white box near him.

"If you even _think_ I'm cleaning this up, you have another thing coming," she scolded him. Kankuro took the wrench out from between his teeth and responded with an agitated roll of his eyes, never looking at her.

"I can clean up my own mess, Temari."

"Why don't you take all this to The Workshop?" She asked, crossing her arms. 'The Workshop' had for a long time been the code for 'Kankuro's room'. And it was little wonder why, as that was how he treated it. The maids had given up on that room years ago, and didn't even venture into its vicinity.

"No room," he replied detachedly, trying to ignore her as he squinted his eyes at the tiny screw to make sure it was holding properly. Temari again rolled her eyes. His excuse was perfectly reasonable. She had seen that room. It was like a graveyard for failed mechanical experiments, broken dolls and scrap puppet parts. It was actually really creepy, and she didn't understand how he could sleep in there with all those wooden eyes and empty sockets staring at him all night. She decided that her brothers- both of them- were really very greatly disturbed.

She sighed, and returned to a more motherly-mode, a habit she had picked up in the absence of any real parental figure in their lives. It usually fell upon the oldest in such situations, and somebody had to take care of her brothers, had to keep what they had left of their family together. "Anyways, I brought you some dinner. Are you training again tonight?"

"Yeah," he replied, now abandoning Karasu in favor of take-out. He grinned, opening the box, and began happily shoveling rice into his mouth. He hadn't even realized he was hungry 'til the food was in front of him.

"You've been doing a lot of that lately," she said slowly, raising an eyebrow at him. He had been leaving at the same time every night for about two weeks now, and he was a fool if he thought she didn't notice the consistency. The only inconstant thing was the times when he returned. Last night, he hadn't come back until early morning. She was not hard pressed to admit that curiosity was raging within her. She knew he WAS training at least, because lately he returned wearily with Karasu in pieces, covered in shuriken. But who was this mysterious training partner who had seemed to so encompass his attention? The Kankuro she knew didn't have nearly that kind of conviction, as his training regime was never so constant, but usually staggered depending on his mood. Somebody was whipping her brother into shape.

"Does your partner specialize in martial arts, or something?" she asked, beginning a curious interrogation. In response, Kankuro gave her a puzzled and sort of disturbed look, his mouth enclosed around his chopsticks. "…Why?" He finally asked.

"Because", she started with a smirk, "They seem to be finally kicking your sorry ass into shape. You've lost weight."

"What does THAT mean!" He hollered in offense, half rising from his sitting position on the floor. Temari grinned at him.

"It means you're FAT. 'Fatty, Fatty, Two By Four'!"

"Piss off, Temari!" He growled, turning his back to her in an attempt to ignore her, now angrily trying to finish his dinner in peace. She smirked at this pouty gesture. He was always so huffy. What a little brat.

"Anyways, whatever they're doing, it's working and I hope they keep doing it. You're starting to get toned up. Looks good on ya."

He ignored her compliment, and she heard him mumble something about how he was never 'fat'. He hoped that she would go away soon.

"They seem to be taking out a lot of aggression on Karasu," she mused, still pressing the conversation, "They must be pretty good."

"Feh!" Kankuro scoffed, half-turning to face her with a coy smirk. "It's hardly worth the effort to show up sometimes. All I get is a workout, she's the one training."

"_SHE_, huh?" Temari gasped in delight. Kankuro's stomach turned as he realized the horror of his mistake.

"_So what!"_ He tried to erase his confession in a panic, but seeing his older sister's sadistic countenance, his face fell into his hands in humiliated defeat.

"A _girl_, huh?" Temari grinned maniacally, squatting down to meet Kankuro on the floor, "Who is it? Do I know her? Is she from around here? C'mon, you can tell me!"

"I don't have to tell you anything!" He snapped, a cold sweat beginning to mat his hair to his forehead, "So get lost! Yeah, she's a girl, so what! Doesn't automatically mean I _like_ her or anything. She's just some kid I beat up!"

"But every night?" She continued torturously, a diabolical gleam in her eye, "I've never known you to be so constant about anything. Usually at midnight you're in bed, or creating something monstrous in The Workshop. You would drop everything, every night, to see this girl? Sounds suspicious to _me_! What do you think, Gaara?"

Kankuro's blood froze as he heard his younger brother reply, "It doesn't matter to me." He spun his head around to see Gaara standing impatiently behind Temari. When did HE show up? Kankuro hadn't even noticed at all!

But to his relief, Gaara didn't seem to care one way or the other about Kankuro's affairs. He instead looked expectantly at Temari, awaiting something that the girl obviously could not quite seem to pinpoint as she raised a questioning eyebrow at her youngest brother. Finally realization struck her, and she gave him his dinner, which he ungraciously accepted and turned with it to leave. In the doorway, he stopped and without turning to face either of them, said slowly; "…But when he returns, he always does so…. cheerfully."

With that he made his exit, and Temari once again turned to Kankuro, grinning devilishly, fueled by this new information.

"_Cheerfully_, eh, Kankuro?" She chirped, "So do you train and then make out, or make out and then train?"

"YOU DISGUST ME!" Kankuro shouted at the top of his lungs, then quickly scooping up a mostly repaired Karasu and a handful of random tools, he slung the dummy over his shoulder and stormed out of the house, slamming the door furiously. After he was gone, Temari burst into a fit of hysterical laughter. It was only when she noticed Gaara watching the door, his chopsticks raising noodles out of his take-out carton, did she stop.

"He left without his hat," he noted with idle curiosity. Then, as if it were a passing thought, he turned his back on the door and proceeded towards his room. Temari's eyes drifted towards the window facing the street, as if hoping to see Kankuro outside. It was not something she would have noticed herself, being used to Kankuro's unmasked appearance, but it didn't occur to her until Gaara said it that for Kankuro, it was unusual for him to leave without his favorite hat, he was rarely seen without it around the Village Hidden in the Sand. She shrugged, figuring that she must have made him angry enough to forget all about it- which happened from time to time- and brushed it off, now concentrating on her own dinner in front of her. She was always forced to eat last.

Tenten had been an anxiety attack waiting to happen all day. And while at first she ignored it, even denied it, she was finally forced to admit to herself that she had been abnormally out of focus. She was still able to function on a normal level, concentrate on her training and later her chores; but she seemed more anxious than usual. And worst of all, that wasn't even what she would have considered the 'abnormal' part. No- that honor was given to the source of her preoccupation, the burning question, which had been plaguing her mind all day; the revealing of the face behind the mask.

It was so bizarre to her, that a simple question asked in passing could turn to such an unruly distraction. When she had initially asked, she didn't even care about the answer; but since he seemed to seclusive about it, had to make such a big deal about it, she suddenly felt like he was revealing a great secret to her; one that almost nobody else knew.

She didn't know how true that was, but it was how she was beginning to feel. It was true that probably no one in Konoha ever saw his true face, as he wore the paint on missions and any time he spent in her hometown was undoubtedly for that purpose, but probably everyone in Hidden Sand had seen him in his casual wear. He didn't wear that ridiculous stuff to town, did he? But he was always wearing it when they met- was he wearing it all day, or did he put in on just for her?

These questions were boggling, both in the sense that she didn't know the answer and in the sense that she was even thinking about such stupid things. Why would she bother to waste a thought on Kankuro? He was an obstacle in her path…. At least, it began that way.

Tenten had to admit that her opinion of him had changed as they met every night for the past two weeks, and it was becoming harder and harder to be angry every time she saw him late at night, blocking her path like he usually did. While at first she found him to be arrogant, obtrusive, and totally uncaring; she eventually noticed that while his personality never changed, at the same time, none of those things were necessarily true. For all of her losses, he never killed her… and with the exception of their first encounter, never even left her with any irreversible damage. She only suffered cuts and bruises, falls and mild concussions, never anything serious or fatal. Whenever it came to that point, he always stopped and allowed her the time it always took her to admit defeat. Then he would simply let her go. He never even feared that she would fake a surrender and attack while his back was turned, and even though her honor was too strong for her to actually do that, what was so puzzling was that he seemed to trust her totally, right from the start. How can he have so much blind faith? He didn't know her, had never even seen her save once or twice before she stumbled across his path late one night.

Really, he wasn't even an enemy at all anymore- he was more like her training partner. The fight they had every night, the verbal abuse she received in regards to being "weak" and "unworthy", they weren't said and done because he thought it was true, thought it was fun to break her spirit- if that were the case, he would have broken her body too- no, they were to toughen her up for her eventual fight with Temari, who undoubtedly would not be so merciful. He was training her body and her spirit so that she would be ready when she went against his sister. He was not opposing her- he was _helping_ her.

And that was very confusing, all on its own.

Through all her jumbled thoughts that day, she did not forget her end of their strange little bargain. So, after she washed and combed her hair that night, instead of braiding it up like she usually did, she allowed her soft, tidy brown locks to fall gracefully around her shoulders and down her back. This actually sort of annoyed her, as she always preferred to put her hair up, especially before a fight- but a deal was a deal, and she was a woman of her words.

So she left that night with the wind whipping through her wild tresses, to the place between the leaves and the sand.

She arrived at their usual training spot to find that, as usual, she was either the first one there or her opponent was really very well hidden (the latter was usually the case). Suddenly feeling a little shy, or perhaps a little anxious, Tenten brushed her air-dried locks off her shoulder and announced herself in her usual way.

"I know you're here, and I know you can see me. Come on out, Kankuro! I upheld my end of the deal." The last part was added with a slight nervous pitch to her voice. Fighting with her hair down was going to be cumbersome, so he'd better be damn good-looking under all that make-up. Or hideously deformed. SOMETHING interesting.

A low chuckle seemed to emanate from the trees. She gritted her teeth. Cocky bastard… he did that sometimes and it annoyed her every time.

"So you have!" She heard Kankuro say. "That's impressive- I was almost sure you'd forget."

"We only spoke yesterday," she replied cynically, "My memory is better than that. And speaking of which, as I recall, you owe me a show. Come on out and lets see your pretty face!" it just then occurred to her to wonder briefly if she should have considered the option of possibly thinking about bringing a disposable camera.

"Too hasty!" Came an amused little drawl. "In due time, Little Green Leaf. First… You have to _find me_!"

At that precise moment, Karasu shot out of the trees, barreling towards her. She flipped backwards out of its way, discharging a volley of silver shuriken at the puppet. Karasu dodged, but was struck unexpectedly by the black painted shuriken in the shadows of the silver ones. As it reeled back in surprise, Tenten pulled a series of wires, and the silver throwing stars abruptly changed direction, thunking into the back of the doll.

Shuriken, even that many of them, wouldn't stop him, she knew- but if they could distract for a moment, she could perform her _coup de grace_. As Karasu struggled with the wires and throwing stars, Tenten unfurled a large black Fuuma Shuriken, and sent it sailing in a graceful arc towards her opponent before giving him a chance to blink. It hit Karasu dead on, splitting the puppet like firewood. As the scraps of wood and sawdust began to hit the earth, they disappeared in a cloud of smoke, only to be replaced by a plain wooden branch.

"_Kawarimi_," she spat as if it were a curse word, and turned around quickly to check behind her, but her loose hair swung into her face, temporarily blocking her vision. She flipped it out of her eyes just in time to be confronted by Karasu's hideous, unscathed presence.

He swung a poisoned dagger at her, which she quickly deflected with a kunai, but as she held her ground against that weapon, one of Karasu's arms swung forward to strike her. Tenten ducked, but was still sideswiped by him, and was knocked into a tree. She coughed once, startled, but had no time to collect herself as she rolled out of the way of his next attack, the dagger just barely missing her head as it slammed into the tree she had previously been leaning upon.

She turned aggressively towards Karasu, teeth bared, brows furrowed, holding two double bladed kunai in front of her protectively. Her eyes beckoned him to come and try again- she was ready.

Suddenly, to her great shock, she was struck from above- how was that possible? Karasu was standing right in front of her! As she painfully met the ground stomach first, still in amazement, she felt a weight pressed against her back, which swiftly pulled her Konoha forehead protector over her eyes and pinned her arms to the ground.

"Your problem is," Kankuro began with an amused voice, "that you never remember that there's TWO of us."

"Shit!" Tenten swore loudly, being unable to think of anything else to say and finding that cursing seemed to suit the situation perfectly. She struggled, but he was straddling her waist, pinning her arms down. Her headband was blinding her, her hair was splayed all over the place, and she was face down in the dirt.

_What a sorry sight I must be,_ she thought dejectedly, beginning to cease her struggle.

"Good match, though," he complimented her, though he didn't ease his grip. "You surprised me with all those shuriken. I just barely got Karasu out of there."

"Oh, shut up," she snapped. "I don't need that."

"Don't be mad," he grinned good-naturedly, making Tenten both at the same time feel a little better and also want to punch him in the teeth. If she could at LEAST get her arms to her face, she could move her forehead protector and see! "I think you're still doing MUCH better than the first few times we fought."

"That means nothing if I still can't beat you," she hissed at him, taking no obvious comfort in his words. She sighed slightly, her struggle completely given up on, and lay pitifully on the ground at Kankuro's mercy. He frowned. Was she depressed? That was a sort of surprise. She seemed like a very strong willed girl with nerves of steel…. Did she ever feel anything but aggression? But he supposed a person could only get defeated every night for so many nights in a row before it began to take its toll on them. Then, he thought suddenly of a way to get her spark back, and smiled.

"If it makes you feel better, I kept my promise," he said, and she could read the smile in his voice. She began to struggle again, trying to flip over or move aside or _something_, but his pin remained firm.

"Well!" She objected, becoming obviously irritated, "Are you going to let me see?"

"No, of course not," he replied delightfully, "I told you, you had to find me, and you never did."

"That's hardly fair!" Her struggle became more violent now, and he actually found that it took most of his force of will to keep her down at this point. "I didn't get much of a chance before you rained down on me!"

"Your fault for not keeping on your toes," he casually replied with a smirk. She growled loudly.

"Then how do I know you even kept your promise!" She demanded, irritated, humiliated, and still blindfolded, "I'm here with my hair in my eyes, blinding me while I try to fight, and now I'm on the ground EATING it, all for nothing?" Her raged fumed, "Prove to me you're a man of your word! Prove you're worth every night I've spent with you up until this point! _Show me what I came to see_!"

Then, exhausted from the fighting and struggling and yelling, she lay still, boiling in her anger, panting, and awaited his reply.

But once sentence in particular out of her little fit caught his attention. He couldn't help but to focus on those words.

_Show me what I came to see!_

_What I came to see…._

"What you came to see… huh?" He said quietly, mostly to himself. What she had come to see… she had come to see… him?

Not the way that had been seeing each other, separated by his mask, hiding his identity… she wanted to see… him. She came tonight, fought tonight, out of a desire to meet her mysterious training partner.

Temari was nowhere in the equation. Tonight, she fought for him. She wanted to meet him.

Kankuro smiled then, genuinely, warmly. Maybe he wanted to meet her, too.

"All right then," he finally agreed, "I'll prove it."

At those conceding words, Tenten's heart rate suddenly and unexpectedly sped up. But instead of releasing his hold on her, or even removing her blindfold, he raised one of her arms up over her head and brushed her fingers across his face.

"See?" He began, "Or rather, feel? No make-up. All smooth."

Her face flushed brightly and became extremely warm all of a sudden. This was not how she expected him to prove it!

He then moved her hand to brush through his wily light brown hair. "And no hat, either," he continued. "Just like you said. You see? I am a man of my word."

She tried to concentrate but couldn't make the heat in her face subside, or the beating of her heart slow down. What was this? Why was he so touchy-feely the last couple of days? Why couldn't she seem to concentrate on anything but the texture of his skin and hair, the warmth of his weight pressed against her back?

"It… it's not the same!" She sputtered. "I need to SEE it!"

"I think I made my point," he coyly replied. "I kept my promise. Two at once, in fact. I didn't wear the make-up, and proved it, and didn't let you see, since _you_ never found me."

"I never agreed to that!" She shouted.

"But it's the new arrangement," he grinned. "So until you catch me, you don't get _anything_."

She growled fiercely, considering his words. "Fine!" she finally submitted with a sharpness to her voice, "But you better not wear that hat or anything tomorrow, either, and give me a fair chance!"

"Or _anything_, huh? My, my!" He grinned, and laughed.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!" She shouted, turning, if possible, even redder than before. "I mean you have to look that same tomorrow as you do tonight!"

"Fine, fine," he drawled lowly, his voice soft yet mischievous. "I promise. Now, I have a mission in the morning, so I'm going home. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow, Tenten!"

Then, unexpectedly, he reached forward and gently took up a lock of her hair. He combed his fingers through it softly, causing her to blush. Then the weight on her back lifted, and she heard the rusting of the trees, but by the time she flipped around and raised her forehead protector, he was already gone.

And once again, Tenten felt suddenly quite cold.

* * *

AN- what does everyone think of my fight scenes? None of my reviews really mention them, and I fret about those more than anything else in this story. Are they good? Plausible? Well writ? In fact, most of the reviews I DO get mostly consist of "I love/hate Tenten!" "Continue!" Or "Weird pairing! I like it!" Those are fine but don't tell me very much about my writing skills.

And now, for your pleasure or despair, another outtake or deleted scene by an anonymous (:cough:Hyuuga-Neji:cough:) Neji fan.

Neji was like just like um... standing around when sasuke walked by and challenged him to MORTAL KOMBAT! Then Neji used 64 palm pushing massive quantities of chakra into Sasuke! So much it caused Sasuke to explode in a shower of blood and bones. FATALITY! Then Tenten came by and Neji and Tenten fell in love and got married, with Rock Lee as the best man (because Neji figured Gai and Lee would trow a bitchin bachelor party and they did!) Maid of honor was...oh I dont know...Sakura. Neji took over the Hyuuga family after Hinata's and Hanabi's unfortunate demises at the hands of the Akatsuki. They lived happily ever after. (except for Sasuke, Hinata and Hanabi that is) Rock Lee lived across the street frequently challenging Neji yet never winning even to old age.

The End


	5. Postponed

Ah, thank you to everyone who has taken the time thus far to give me a constructive critique of this story, particularly Acheeka who more or less tore it up and put it back together again for me, heh. I promise I do take your suggestions into account when I begin chapters, and some of you I think will be seeing some of your helpful thoughts come into play this chapter or at the very least, soon after this one. I have a basic guideline I'm following with this, but the rest I make up as I go. But, Ash, where did it say that the sand siblings aren't biologically brothers and sister? There's more evidence that they are than they aren't. Gaara's mother is dead, true, but he's also the youngest. (And she looks just like Temari.) I don't think anyone would bother "saying" that they're Gaara's sibling. Besides, Temari and Kankuro are in Gaara's flashback to his childhood.

Note- Slight changes have been made to chapters 1, 2 and 3, upon reevaluation of the dialogue. See? I take advice.

* * *

"Don't stop," Rock Lee reminded the exhausted girl laying in the grass, the both of them panting volubly as they tried to catch their breath, "Don't stop moving. It's bad for your muscles. Come on, get up." He reached out his hand to help Tenten up, which she grudgingly accepted, and it took most of the strength the two of them had left to pull her back on her feet. He began to walk, slowly, and she followed.

"Let me sit down, for just a second…" she protested tiredly, but Lee shook his head.

"You're supposed to walk it off, you know I've told you this before." Lee smiled affectionately at Tenten, as sweat streaked visibly down both their weary faces. "Good workout."

She smiled lightly in response. "It was. I'm glad we got to do this. You and Neji were gone for so long, I actually had to seek out another training partner." She laughed a little and held an aching muscle in her side. A nap was in order before she went anywhere tonight.

"I'm sorry, Tenten," Lee apologized. "I wish you could have come with us on that mission, but your shoulder-"

"I know," she interrupted, "It was my fault for being reckless. I would have liked to go with you, too, but Neji would have KILLED me if I endangered the mission by being a liability," she laughed with a bit of a roll in her eyes. "I still managed to keep up with my training while you were away."

"You certainly have!" Lee replied enthusiastically, "You're almost entirely different since when we left. It's amazing. Who have you been training with?"

"Oh…" she began a little distantly, "Just someone I met recently. I don't think you know them. I just met them around the time you left."

Lee thought about this for a moment, and the two of them walked around the training grounds in silence for a little while as they gave their bodies a chance to cool down from their strenuous sparring exercise. He had just remembered something as she spoke, something he had not had the opportunity to question her on before, but he certainly seemed to have plenty of time now, and he'd been worried about it for several weeks since he and Neji were forced to leave without her.

"Tenten," Lee began slowly, "The night I brought you to the hospital, you had a stab wound in your shoulder that had absorbed some poison. I didn't get a chance to ask you while you were healing before Neji and I left…"

Tenten silently sucked in her breath, already knowing the question that would be following, but having no answer that she wanted to give to him.

"…But who was it that did that to you?"

She stopped walking, and stared silently at the ground as she contemplated her reply. What would be the least incriminating response? He didn't know of her grudge against Temari, didn't know that she intended to challenge a rematch… didn't know that she'd been meeting the very person who denied her the mission she was supposed to have been on with Lee and Neji every night since they left.

Lee stopped and looked at her, calmly, patiently. Tenten smiled lightly at her friend, glancing up at him. Even when she had been cruel to him, he was always so understanding and caring with her. He worried over her so much when she was brought to the hospital over two weeks ago, and tried to reschedule the mission until she was well, but Neji would hear none of it, and so they were forced to replace her. Tenten had argued that she could go, but Gai Sensei insisted that she remain bed set until she had fully recovered.

Nonetheless, after they left, Tenten had gone off that night to face Temari again. Even if they would not let her go with them, she had no intention of staying home, and needed a good fight now to ease her anger not only about losing to Kankuro, but about losing her mission as well. It turned out that hadn't been a very good idea either, when she later had to return home by sneaking into her room by way of her window so she didn't have to explain to her family why she was out with that stab wound, and why her bra was split open.

She raised her eyes to Lee confidently. He was too nice to be lied to. "It was my new training partner," she finally replied to his question. "Things got a little out of hand."

"Really?" He seemed to accept that, "Was he the same person that brought you to me, unconscious?"

A look of shock quickly spread across her face. "Did you see him?" She suddenly gushed, "Was it him that did that?"

Lee seemed to be taken aback by her abrupt outburst, and stammered "I… I didn't really see him, I only heard his voice. He dropped you off half bandaged, and left. I didn't recognize him… Who is he?"

"Was it him?…" Tenten retreated to her own thoughts, ignoring Lee's question. That first night, when Karasu had stabbed her with that poison tipped dagger, Tenten had lost consciousness and never learned who it was that had saved her. She didn't think Kankuro would bother to take the time, not only to fix her up but to bring her home as well.

"You say you didn't see him at all?" She turned inquisitively to Lee, a look of curiosity burning in her eyes.

"I didn't," he replied, obviously confused, "He hid in the shadows of the trees."

"What did his voice sound like? What did he say?"

Rock Lee tried to think back to that night, when the mysterious figure dropped Tenten's comatose body into his arms from the branches. He struggled to remember the conversation they had briefly engaged in before he was forced to rush Tenten to the hospital, though he was also intensely curious why this was so important to her. Did she not know what happened to her that not? How could she not expect a new training partner to take her home if he did too much damage?

"It was a while ago, I'm afraid I don't recall very clearly…" he began, concentrating hard, "But I believe his voice was sort of… _cynical_, if that's any description. As for what he said, it was something like 'Is this yours?' and then he dropped you into my arms. He would not respond to my inquiring who he was, but instead said 'She'll tell you, when she wakes up…' or… something to that effect…. and then mentioned that you had absorbed some poison. Tenten, who is this person? He seemed to know me, or at least that I knew you. If you train with him, why would he treat you like he didn't care about you?"

The look on Tenten's face was a million miles away. She was silent for a moment, and Rock Lee could have been standing next to her or not.

"No," she began dreamily, possibly more to herself than to him, "The question is, why would he act like he _did _care?"

This obviously puzzled Lee. "I'm afraid I don't understand."

Tenten finally returned to Earth, and looked at him carefully. She then smiled brightly, as if trying to wash away his concerns by doing so.

"Don't worry about it. It won't happen again." She then began to walk again, and Lee followed. Tenten was very suddenly in an abnormally good mood.

"Well," she smiled at him, "I think I've cooled off now, what do you think?"

Lee grinned, narrowing his eyes. "Shall we have a rematch?"

"Don't go so easy on me this time!" She drew her body into a fighting stance.

_Who's going easy?_ Rock Lee thought lightly, with slight amusement. She was not quite up to his skill level yet, but she was closer than she had ever been since he surpassed her years before. She was different now, somehow. During his absence, something had not only succeeded in making her stronger, but happier as well, it seemed. She had renewed strength and determination. He wondered if all these changes had the same cause. But he was glad for her.

He charged forward, ready to strike.

And so once again, Tenten found herself three hours away from the country of fire at ungodly hours of the night, looking for a boy who was undoubtedly hiding from her so that she could fight him. Not a _normal_ relationship by any means, but who needs normal? This was much more fun.

Her conversation with Rock Lee earlier that day had brought a new revelation forth. When she discovered the possibility that Kankuro may have saved her that first night, after being the one to defeat her, she found that her reaction to this was surprisingly pleased. She was _happy_ that he would bother to help her in her time of need- even back when he didn't know her, back when she was an annoying stranger whom he could have easily killed without a second thought. But he went out of his way to spare her life. And while she had no proof, she could tell from the description who it was. You don't spend over two weeks straight with a person without beginning to understand a few things about them.

This was an all new level on her opinion of him. In fact, she found that tonight, she couldn't wait to see him. She was going to ask him the truth- was it he who brought her home? She was sure he wouldn't give her a straight answer, he had to answer questions like that in riddles, but she was sure she could decipher it. And she was just as sure that she was right about the answer. Why else would he have never asked how she got home that night?

She smiled a little to herself and took in a deep breath. Lots would be answered tonight. She would see him, the real him, under the paint he hid behind, and ask what had happened that night.

And then, she would thank him.

Not just for saving her, but for everything. For helping her train, under whatever pretences. For coming every night and holding to his promise. At first she hated him for it, but now, she understood. Under all that sarcasm, he was really very kind to her. And she had been nothing but awful. Tonight, whoever won their match, he deserved to be told that she valued her time with him, and that she would like to view him as a friend.

A few small butterflies began to flit around in her stomach. Somehow, the prospect of telling Kankuro she didn't dislike him was more nerve racking than any fight.

Tonight, though, as she stood under the dark shade of the trees in their usual training ground, she found herself waiting an abnormally long amount of time for him. She was beginning to feel rather uncomfortable, standing out here in the middle of the woods at night all by herself. She couldn't figure out what was taking so long.

Fifteen minutes passed. She was beginning to like him less and less with each passing minute. How long did he expect her to wait?

Twenty minutes. She could think of a few reasons why he wouldn't be here, and she didn't know which one to hold to. Maybe he decided that she had trained enough, and this was a way of telling her to proceed on to the next area? Or maybe it was a test, and he wanted to see if she would try to sneak past, to move on towards the Wind Country and challenge Temari- and then he would ambush her when she least expected it. Or maybe… he was just plain bored with her?

A knot in her stomach tightened at that last thought. _Go figure,_ she thought, _the day I decide I don't hate him, he decides he hates me._

Twenty-five minutes. Should she proceed to the Sand Village, or go back to the Leaf Village? It was strange, for weeks she had been hoping this would happen so that she could slip past him and go on to face Temari like she had originally planned, but now that it actually _did_ happen, she had no idea what to do.

And she was still torn, when she suddenly remembered something.

Last night, after their fight… didn't Kankuro say he had a mission for today?

Tenten sighed, and with a small laugh, slumped against a tree trunk and sat down. He did say that. That was probably why he was so late. And furthermore, she would be unable to go challenge Temari anyways, because undoubtedly they were both on the same mission. That explained it.

Still, it would have been polite to tell her if this mission was going to take a few days, so she could have stayed home. Letting her stand out here by herself all night was really rude.

He must not have thought very much of her, after all.

"Ten more minutes," she said aloud to break up the silence. "I'll give him ten more minutes, and if he's still not here, I'm going home."

It was at that very moment that a kunai suddenly hit the tree she was leaning against, a mere inch from her head. Tenten quickly flipped herself upright and threw a senbon at the direction the kunai had come from, and watched it disappear into the darkness.

"You waited for me!" Kankuro's jubilant voice was heard, "I'm flattered. I was almost sure you'd get bored and leave."

"I have more conviction than that," she smirked. "I don't just give up. What the hell kept you, though?"

"I told you," The hair on Tenten's neck rose as she realized the source of his voice was now directly behind her, "I had a mission."

She leapt forward and quickly spun around to face him, readying another volley of shuriken. But instead of discharging them, she found herself completely frozen in shock.

She had no idea who this person standing so casually before her, with his hands in his pockets, even was.

He had wild light brown hair that hung messily over his sharp, slanted eyes, and a somewhat prominent nose. And then he grinned at her, and her heart rate increased quite a bit.

"K- …Kankuro?…" she asked hesitantly, still trying to recognize him, shock obvious on her face. She didn't know what she had expected when this night came, but somehow the last thing she expected to think had been 'handsome'. That came as a total surprise.

"I'm glad you waited," he smiled at her, and she found herself blushing furiously. He took a step towards her, and she took a step back.

"W-well… I… wasn't doing anything else tonight…." Why was she so flustered all of a sudden? Why couldn't she tear her eyes away from that face? Shouldn't this be like any other night?

He took a few more slow, casual steps forward, and she took a few smaller ones back.

"I thought you wanted to fight me first, before I got my prize," she stated, finally starting to collect herself.

"Ooh, I like being referred to as a 'prize'," he grinned at her, totally ignoring the rest of what she had said. "Say it again."

"No! What? What are you… I mean, aren't we going to fight?" He was still advancing on her, and for some reason she just could not keep it together. He did not even seem like he had any intention of fighting at all- Karasu was nowhere to be seen, and his expression now was sort of mischievous and carefree. He looked like he had some other intention, in fact, and given that the basis of their relationship was fighting, anything else apparently made her nervous. He took another step forward, and caught up to her. He was now within an arms reach of Tenten, and she couldn't help but to stare, dumbstruck. What about him was suddenly so distracting?

He leaned in close, a coy smile on his lips. He slowly raised his hand, and brought it gently towards Tenten's face, reaching up to her forehead. Her cheeks grew redder as he pointed a finger at her hitai-ate, and pressing on the metal lightly, his coy smile grew into a delighted grin.

"You lose."

Suddenly and unexpectedly, Tenten was grabbed from behind by a pair of wooden arms, and pulled back forcefully. She let out a short scream as her back hit something, the arms let go, and suddenly it was extremely dark. She began to thrash around, trying to stand up, but her head hit something, as did her arms. To her horror, she realized she had been pulled into some kind of wooden barrel or crate. She began violently pounding on the sides, cursing furiously, trying to break free. From outside, she heard Kankuro laugh.

"You got too close to Kuroari. Now you've learned something new."

"_What is this_!" She shouted, searching now for a lid or a door or some kind of opening.

"It's my other weapon, Kuroari," he grinned lowly. "Didn't I ever tell you? I have two. Of course, you can't really see him now, but his design is really quite clever, if I do say so myself."

"This is bullshit!" She roared at him "What kind of trickery was that! I- I didn't even know we started yet!"

"Of course we did. I threw a kunai, and you threw a senbon. The fight began." He leaned against his puppet, and could feel her moving around inside. "But it doesn't matter now. You lose. It's so easy to kill someone once they're in Kuroari's reaches." He began to laugh lowly, when suddenly the blade of a dagger shot out of one of the slots cut into the wood, just barely missing his leg. He jumped quickly out of the way, surprised. "Careful!" he said, startled, "Blades usually go INTO those slots, not come out of them."

"Not when I'm in here!" She replied testily, "Have you _met _me?" The blade pulled back in to suddenly shoot out of a different slot. She was so angry at him, and at herself right now- how could she let herself be so distracted by his stupid, ugly face well enough for him to lead her into a trap! That must have been a real ego boost for that asshole. There had to be some way out of here- it was cramped, dark, and reeked of blood. She could not take much more.

"Unfair!" she shouted, "I didn't know you had TWO puppets!"

"But you knew I had one at least," he replied, "And you still fell into my trap. In fact, you're lucky I brought Kuroari. If that had been Karasu, you'd be dead."

"I'm not going home after THIS shitty fight, I demand a rematch! I waited almost half an hour for you, you son of a bitch!"

For a moment, there was no reply. She quieted in order to hear him, still simmering in her fury. Suddenly, a door swung open on Kuroari's chest, and Tenten wasted no time scrambling out. She was about to holler at Kankuro some more, when she saw him sitting down on a fallen tree trunk, watching her calmly and unthreateningly. She raised a curious eyebrow.

"You're right," he began, "That was a shitty fight. I pulled a cheap trick."

Tenten stared at him in silent astonishment, mouth slightly agape.

"…What?" Was all she found she could think of to say.

"I said, you're right," he smirked. "Does that amaze you?"

"Not amazed that I'm right," she replied, "But that you would admit it. Are you ill?"

"Yeah," he looked at her distantly, "I think I am."

She gave him a curious and slightly concerned look. "Is something bothering you?"

He motioned for her to come over to him, which she did unthinkingly, and leaned against a tree near him, keeping one eye out for the creepy barrel shaped puppet behind her, which she could now fully see and still didn't trust.

"I promise I won't attack you," he laughed a little when he saw her glance anxiously at Kuroari. "So stop expecting me to trick you."

"Well I did fall for this earlier, I'll be damned if it's going to happen again," she replied incredulously. He didn't reply, and Tenten found herself suddenly filled with curious concern. No smart-ass remarks on how easily she fell for it? No comments on how his new toy could crush her? Nothing?

"….Are you okay?" she asked, and stepped towards him cautiously.

"I'm alright," he replied, and she found that without the paint, it was so much easier to read his emotions. "I just didn't feel like fighting today, is all."

"You didn't? Then… why did you come?"

"Because you were expecting me to, of course," he smiled, and once again she found herself dumbstruck by that smile. "So I pulled a cheap trick to get out of it. I bet you hate me for that, don't you?"

While normally it would have been very simple for her to reply with a 'yes', today for some reason, as he looked at her with that dumb smile and those cat-like eyes, with his _whole _face as she had asked him to do, she found that she couldn't seem to convince herself to say it. After a moment of awkward silence, she sighed, and took a seat next to him on the fallen log.

"How did your mission go?" She asked.

"I killed some people," He replied, with almost no emotion. She somehow found that a little disturbing.

"I suppose you have to, it's kill or be killed, that's a ninja's life." She wasn't necessarily trying to be comforting, just stating a fact. He nodded.

"We have another mission tomorrow," he started, "It will extend for six days. On the sixth night, can I expect to meet you here?" He looked at her very seriously. She nodded resolutely, though secretly inside her gut, she was a little disappointed at the prospect of not seeing him for the next six nights.

"Of course. That's the arrangement. I have to meet you here, if I ever plan on defeating you," she smiled coyly at him, and as he looked at her there, with those cute little buns, his heart sped up just a bit. He decided that he rather liked that smile.

"You're wearing your hair up," he commented. "That's not fair."

"How so?" she asked, raising her hands to her hair. "You already saw that. We didn't make arrangements for you to see it twice."

"If I have to look the same as yesterday, so do you," he replied, and without any hesitation, proceeded to scoot over to her and undo the bindings in her hair. Tenten blushed.

"What do you think you're doing?" She asked, but at the same time, made no move to stop him- in fact, she may have leaned her head towards him, just a little. His fingers were quick and nimble as he untied the braids and clipped out the barrettes- but she imagined that should come as no surprise to her. He was a puppeteer, after all, and they would have to have fast hands. As he began to unravel the second braid, something occurred to her. After a moment to build up her courage, she finally began, not wanting to waste this opportunity.

"Kankuro," she began, a little nervously, "You never did ask how it was that I got home- the first night we fought and you knocked me out."

She felt his hands stop for a moment and begin to loosen their grip, and then quickly went back to work unwinding her braid.

"Didn't I?" he asked. "Well, I'm an insensitive bastard, aren't I?"

"Yes, but that aside," she heard him laugh a little at that, "Answer me truthfully. Did you bring me to Rock Lee that night?"

He finished taking out her braids then, and slowly he brushed his fingers through her dark hair. It was long and thick, a little wavy from being braided while damp, and surprisingly soft. And it still rather smelled like polished steel and shampoo, he noted. But then, she probably wasn't the type of girl to smell like flowers. Her cheeks flushed as he combed his fingers through her hair, and she made no indications that he should stop, as she awaited his answer.

Finally, he untied the knot on her forehead protector and slipped it off, then backed away from her. "I couldn't very well just leave you there."

So it was finally confirmed. A smile lit up her face. The stupid jerk really did have a heart. She smiled warmly at him, and now it was he who found himself a little astounded. He still didn't really know what had possessed him to take her all the way to Konoha that night, but it occurred to him that maybe the reason was that so someday he could see this smile on her face, this radiant smile, which confused and terrified him, and was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. She had never smiled at him like this before. He decided that he liked _this_ smile, too.

"In that case," she began, a light tint in her cheeks, "I think I should thank you."

"You don't…. have to do that," he began, and turned away, a little embarrassed.

"Not just for helping me that first night," she continued, "But for every night, for the past two and a half weeks. You've held you your promise, even though you didn't have to, even though you had nothing to gain from it… and I've gotten much stronger because of it." She scooted a little closer to him, and a heat spread across his face and down his neck, and his eyes were suddenly glued to this girl. Neither of them were wearing their forehead protectors… and they weren't fighting… so tonight, it was suddenly very clear that when they weren't being ninjas, they were just a boy and a girl.

"So," she smiled, her small mouth suddenly looking so very attractive, "Thank you."

And Kankuro found himself fighting off the strangest urge to do something totally unexpected and completely unnecessary. He always knew she was pretty, but never before did she seem so alluring. She seemed to be taunting him, with those captivating olive green eyes and that long lustrous hair and those moist, fascinating lips; which she seemed to be unconsciously licking, darting her little pink tongue out across her mouth and quickly drawing it back in… and he discovered, as he licked his own lips and his heart pounded and his cheeks flushed, that he was leaning in, just a little bit, as if she was drawing him to her by some unexplained force, and by that same strange force his lips were parting ever so slightly, and he just kept getting closer and closer until he could almost feel her breath on his skin, and if he kept going at this rate things would soon be very different between them. It took all the force of will he had to pull away and look in the entirely opposite direction, as he waited for his heart to slow and the heat to subside and that bizarre compulsion to pass.

"Don't mention it," was all he could think of to say. "It was… my pleasure." He half turned to grin at her.

Tenten stared at her hands folded neatly in her lap, waiting for her own heart to slow. Kankuro had just gotten very close- unnervingly close. And she hadn't done a thing to stop him. In fact, she didn't seem to have anything going at all in her head during that moment. All she could seem to concentrate on was how very close he kept getting and how very handsome he suddenly seemed and how very interesting his lips were. She blushed, and pulled her hair in front of her face like a curtain, as if trying to shield herself from him so that he couldn't see her embarrassment. Things would have been very different between them if that had happened. It was probably in both of their best interests to pretend it never got that far.

"So," she started, standing up from the log, "Six days, then?"

"Yeah," he replied, watching her stand with curious apprehension, "Six."

"I wish you luck on your mission, then." She smiled at him. "Try to come back alive, okay?"

"You aren't leaving, are you?" There was a tone in his voice that caught her attention, and grounded her to that spot.

"Well," she began, "If you have a mission tomorrow, you should probably be preparing for it, right?"

"I will," he smirked in that coy, familiar way. "Tomorrow. But that has nothing to do with now."

While she could have and probably should have argued with him that he should be more responsible towards his mission and his other teammates, at the same time he was making this excuse so that he could spend more time with her. And, truth be told, she didn't really want to go home anyways. She rather liked the idea of staying here, just a little bit longer.

She smirked at him, and crossed her arms over her chest. "So, then," she began, "If we aren't going to fight, what _are_ we going to do?"

"Well, most _normal_ human beings have conversations with their friends," he replied with a smile.

"Is that what friends do?" She mused. "Then perhaps, as friends, that's what we should do, too." She sat back down on the fallen tree casually and looked at him. "So! What do you want to talk about?"

"How about we start with your last name?"

"How about we start with yours?"


	6. Deathmatch

Sometimes, a good, strong, curse word can really fit the situation at hand. This chapter curses freely. I know most of you don't care, particularly if you know me personally, therefore having the knowledge that I swear like a truck driver with turrets, but I thought I'd warn ya. Thanks again to my lovely beta Archeeka, for all her help in everything.

* * *

While normally considered a relatively brief length of time; less than a week, even; when one is waiting for something, six days can take forever.

She had managed to occupy her time pretty well; even been assigned a three day mission escorting some rich businessman to the Grass country (which she felt was sort of below her, but the time frame was right), but that still gave her three days before she could meet him again.

Three weeks ago, if Tenten had been told that within the month she would actually _miss_ Kankuro's company, she would have stabbed the messenger. Repeatedly.

But as it turned out, her great rival also seemed to be very slowly becoming her best friend.

She never would have thought that before their vacation from each other. Maybe regarded him as a friend after their most recent encounter, when they had stayed up until ungodly hours of the morning just talking, about everything and nothing; just enjoying each other's company for once; but certainly at that time she wouldn't have considered him her _best_ friend.

Until she realized that around nine P.M., when normally she would already be en route to meet him, she would be getting kind of antsy. By midnight, when they normally met, she would go into a brief, mysterious depression, and if she was not doing something productive, it would quickly become a very bad mood. This was the lesson her teammates learned on their brief mission to the Grass Country, and since then Tenten had taken to training at night, just to have something to occupy her mind.

She couldn't get back on a normal sleep schedule either…. Couldn't seem to get tired until around 3:30 in the morning. A very unhealthy habit, she knew, but if she tried to sleep, she'd end up just laying there, tossing around, and thinking about how she wanted to fight him again. Thinking, how was his mission going? Was it dangerous? Would he return? Thinking about his fingers in her hair, the texture of his skin. Thinking that the next time she saw him, she was going to beat the living Hell out of him for throwing off balance her very pattern of life.

Her friends and family had now become slightly more than concerned. It was strange how she left every night around nine and didn't return until almost four A.M. or later, but never told anyone where she was going, or who she was meeting. Lee and Neji had been gone for a while and didn't hear about her bizarre schedule shift until it was too late to make corrections to it. Neji, of course, didn't care left, right, or sideways. But Lee was concerned. However, whenever he attempted to discus his worries with her, she changed the subject. He tried, even suggesting that they request a long mission that would take them out of Konoha to give her a chance to break out of her bad habit of staying out too late and maybe give them an opportunity to talk... but she declined, saying that she had something she had to do first, and that taking long missions would be difficult until she was able to complete a task she had set for herself. Lee pressed for more information, but that was all he could get.

What was it she did every evening that took until the early hours of the morning? Was she meeting her training partner, the one she had mentioned before, that brought her to Lee late one night with severe damage and traces of poison? If so, why couldn't they schedule their meeting in the daytime? He knew Tenten's agenda wasn't nearly so tight that she was too busy to see him until late, but admittedly, Lee knew almost nothing of her training partner. Perhaps he had more of a conflicting schedule?

Or then there was the obvious choice; they were trying to keep a secret.

But Lee couldn't even begin to think of a reason why. It didn't matter to him who Tenten trained with, so long as they were a good partner who would do well with her, and clearly they were, judging by her recent progress and unusual reactions to his presence or non-presence. So why the need to keep it concealed? Was Tenten embarrassed? Or was there really something behind the whole matter that needed to be kept in the dark, for fear of damaging their strange relationship?

Many of her close friends had seriously considered following her one night, just to see where she was going. But they all respected her privacy enough to decide against it, trusting that she would tell them eventually, when she was ready.

They hoped, though, that it would be sooner than later.

Finally, after much anticipation and mild frustration, the sixth night came. Tenten was clearly anxious that entire morning, feelings which just intensified as the sun set and the afternoon slowly melted into evening, and one minute seemed to take three; until she finally decided to just leave early before someone in her home decided to knock her unconscious just to keep her from pacing and clicking her fingernails and tapping her toes, and other annoyingly impatient habits.

So, she left at eight P.M., having been entirely ready three hours prior, even taking her hair down and putting it back up four times with the same results each time, in order to fix some minor flaw that only she was really aware of, if for no other reason than something to occupy her time. She wore her regular training outfit; the Chinese styled blouse and dark pants, but changed out of it a few times and then back into it before making a final decision.

She was armed to the teeth, in obvious places and unobvious places to uphold a sense of surprise, even sporting a plain looking but painfully sharp katana across her back, and even had a few clever ideas for their next fight, which she couldn't figure out why she hadn't put to use earlier.

Despite being a bit irritable the entire time, Tenten was glad for their six-day hiatus. She got a lot of solo training done, along with some sparring with Lee and Neji, all of which gave her some good ideas for what to use against Kankuro the next time they fought.

Tenten grinned broadly to herself as she dashed through the darkened trees. This time, she could really surprise him.

As she made her long journey, she went over scenarios in her head about how this fight would go, making sure to plan for every possible counter, even taking into consideration if he decided to bring Kuroari again, with or as opposed to Karasu. Remembering that sometimes Kankuro himself joined in the fight instead of controlling it from the shadows, which gave her the possibility that worst-case scenario, it was her against three.

A mischievous smile stretched across her lips. Even in that case, she felt that today for sure, she could win. Tenten snickered silently, reveling in her excitement and planning her victory, and the time passed by quite quickly.

Though, perhaps, too quickly. When she arrived at her destination in their usual meeting place, it occurred to her that she was an hour early. Now she would have to sit around in the trees for an hour and wait for him, or longer if he was late again. But at the same time as being a bit agitating, there was a slight thrill to being the first to arrive. This time, she could ambush _him_. She could hide in the dark branches and wait for his arrival, then spring like a trap and employ her new tactics at first sight of him, giving her the upper hand for once.

She smirked at this idea. There was no way this could backfire.

Unless the impossible happened…. Which, as it were, it did.

"Well," a bemused and all too familiar voice was heard to say, "You're early."

Tenten very nearly fell right over when she heard him. Suddenly frozen in place, she stared at him in shock. Why was that bastard so early, ruining all her plans?

"So are you," she replied, regaining her composure, and added with a smirk, "Were you so anxious to see me?"

"Not so much as you to me, apparently," he grinned at her and leapt to a closer branch to see her more clearly. Tenten was actually a bit surprised to see that once again, he wasn't wearing his paint. Except for the bandaged up Karasu slung across his back, Kankuro looked the same as the last time they met, the night they decided to postpone their match. The lightest blush tinted her cheeks.

"Well, I _was_ going to set up some traps, but you went and ruined that by missing me too much," she playfully commented with one hand slyly on her hip. She then raised her eyes to him demurely. "You aren't wearing your paint."

"Oh, you noticed that," he replied casually, as if it were an unobvious thing. "No, doesn't seem that I am. Why? Do you like the paint better?"

Tenten shook her head with a shy smile. "No. It's better this way."

He smiled very lightly. "I thought that's what your opinion was."

"Oh?" She raised a coy eyebrow, "And so that's why you did it? To impress me?"

"Of course."

That response floored her. She had really expected a reply somewhere along the lines of anything but that. She then placed her hands on her hips, and replied with a roguish smile "Are you getting fresh with me, Kankuro?"

"Sure, whatever makes you happy," he grinned with a passive shrug. "I just think it's easier for you to take me seriously when you can see my face."

Tenten gave him a curious look as he continued, with the slightest of smiles. "It's easier for you to separate me from my brother and sister."

To his surprise, Tenten scoffed in response and shook her head. He was a little offended, until she raised her head and smiled warmly at him.

"You jerk. I forgot about them long ago. This is between you and me."

Kankuro grinned. Damn, he had missed her.

"But that doesn't mean you get to start painting your face again," she continued, folding her arms crossly, "Or I'm going to have to personally wipe it off."

"Ooh, promise?"

She smirked at him. "Ass. Let's fight, already."

"You DID miss me," he smirked impishly, lowering Karasu off his back and setting him noisily beside him on the branch. "Ready when you are."

"I've been ready for days!"

With that statement, her hand came to her weapons pouch as she flew forward towards him, and in a flash she was on him, armed with a kunai, and within a moment she easily laid the weapon to rest between his narrow eyes.

For the briefest of seconds her heart stopped, having expected him to dodge. Quickly, though, that shock dissipated when she realized there was no blood. Kankuro's hand came up to his face and grabbed the kunai as sand began to fall from his skin, and quickly his cover dissolved, revealing Karasu with a big crack in his forehead where she had planted the kunai as he dislodged it with a forceful tug.

Beside him, the bandaged form Tenten had assumed to be Karasu unraveled suddenly, and the wrappings fell to Kankuro's feet. With his back to her, he half-turned and smirked wickedly, then quickly disappeared into the darkness to control his puppet out of harms way.

Now wielding Tenten's kunai in one of his four arms, Karasu came forward and attempted to grapple her. The lithe girl quickly spun out of the way, came around behind the puppet, and forced a dagger into the gears that would have been considered his knee joint. She dodged gracefully and backed up a few yards when Karasu swung at her, his wrists opened to reveal the poison tipped daggers.

She smirked to herself as she watched the marionette attempt to take a step forward with a disjointed knee. Things so far were working towards her favor.

But knees were things the doll didn't necessarily need. Karasu flew towards her then, slashing his blades. She deflected one with a kunai, and another of his arms attempted to surprise her with a low strike to her side. With her other hand she held that off, but was now all out of hands, where he had two more. Before he had the chance to utilize this advantage, with all her strength she threw off his two arms and flipped backwards. As her legs came up, she struck him as hard as she could in the jaw.

The wood cracked and some chips crumbled off, revealing some of the menacing drill Kankuro had stored inside Karasu's head; but aside from being momentarily thrown off balance, Karasu was fairly unaffected. She swore to herself as she up righted; somehow it was easy for her to forget that she was fighting a being that had no nerves and didn't feel pain. In a flash, the puppet recovered and barreled towards the girl. He threw himself into her at full force, knocking her onto her back several yards away. Tenten winced as she hit the hard earth, bruising her spine. As she recollected herself, she was surprised to see Karasu standing on a tree branch a fair distance away. His gears whirred eerily and his body began to move oddly. Tenten looked at him curiously, then watched in horror as suddenly the wood on his arms began to spring open, revealing several long knives in each of his four arms. Each thin silver blade gleamed darkly in the faint moonlight, undoubtedly soaked in blood from battles won and promising a messy death.

Then, unexpectedly, his joints began to rotate, spinning the gruesome knives at high speeds, increasing the danger considerably.

Tenten had never seen _that _before. Had that always been one of Karasu's features, or was it installed during their absence?

The marionette readied itself; it's terrible blades spinning treacherously, and suddenly flew down directly towards the startled girl. Tenten had to concentrate, or be pureed by the giant wooden blender rushing towards her at high velocity. Quickly she formulated a plan. The blades weren't spinning by way of chakra; it was a mechanism installed into the doll. If she could stop the gears from rotating, the knives would be easier to dodge.

Tenten set her teeth, and pulled out her kunai from a special reserve. As Karasu was just a yard away from dissecting her, she discharged them, followed immediately by a volley of shuriken, all carefully aimed. The weapons lodged themselves into Karasu's gears, blocking the mechanics and stopping the knives with a loud screech and a shower of sparks as the metals grinded against each other. His direction now shifted, Tenten dodged out of the way as Karasu smashed into a tree and tumbled unceremoniously to the ground, unable to use his arms.

It was about that moment when the seal was activated on the tags Tenten had tied to the kunai, and they exploded.

Tenten let out a short, wicked laugh as the wooden doll burst into flames. She then unsheathed the katana at her back. Before the puppet could find a way to stand and fight her as a giant flaming ball of disaster, she rushed towards him, and with all her might, plunged the sword into Karasu's back. The wood cracked as the blade went all the way through and into the ground beneath him. She stomped on the hilt to further lodge the blade into the ground, and for good measure, did the same with a kunai to the back of each of his hands, effectively pinning him down, broken and burning. Every move the puppet tried to make was in vain as the wood burned away, revealing all its hidden weapons and red-hot gears concealed within him.

Tenten turned up to the trees where she had last seen Kankuro, and smirked darkly. "I hope you brought your other one, because this one is dead."

As if in response, a dark figure rained down from the branches, and Kankuro landed in front on her. Wordlessly, he wasted no time engaging her in melee combat, and it was clear by the look on his face that he was not happy with what had just happened.

They each drew a short blade and struck, each deflecting off the other's weapon. Tenten jumped back and threw a handful of shuriken at him, which he dodged gracefully, returning a kunai at her. She hopped back and the weapon thunked into the ground at her feet, and then unexpectedly it burst into a purple cloud of smoke.

Tenten quickly recognized this as poison. She exhaled sharply, to blast out any poison she may have inhaled, then covering her mouth and nose, ran from the fatal gas.

Predicting where she would go, Kankuro made a point to be standing directly in her path as she made her escape, and he was right. She dashed directly towards him, and he lunged his dagger forward, plunging it into her stomach.

He knew he had made a mistake the moment the hot blood gushed out of the wound and washed over his hand, staining it a deep red.

She gasped and then choked, her eyes wide with pain and shock, and as he pulled out the knife with a grotesque jerk, she winced in pain and her knees buckled, and before his eyes, she seemed to take forever to fall.

Her back hit the earth and her eyes still were wide, the blood kept coming and somehow, Kankuro was immobilized. The bloodied dagger slipped from his wet fingers and clattered to the ground and Kankuro couldn't seem to think of what he was supposed to do with this victory.

_Oh fuck. Oh fuck. You were supposed to block, you idiot! Tenten! Are you okay? That didn't just happen. You aren't that stupid! Oh fuck, the blood. She's still bleeding. What the fuck do I do! Is she breathing? Is she conscious? Fuck! What do I- Fuck!_

His body couldn't seem to figure out how to move and his mind couldn't comprehend. There had to be something he was supposed to do in the situation but he didn't know what it was. Stop the bleeding! He had to stop the bleeding! He remembered then the bandages he kept Karasu wrapped in. If he didn't do something quickly, Tenten was going to die.

As fast as he could, he located the bandages and pulled them back to where she lay. With shaking, slippery hands, he carefully pulled up the material of her stained blouse and revealed a deep, merciless cut up her abdomen, her flesh torn and her blood pouring out and pooling beneath her. He drew in his breath sharply, pained by the sight, and attempted to wrap the bandages around her wound, but the blood wouldn't stop and his panic was overwhelming. The last time he had seen this much blood, the person died.

He clenched his teeth and his body froze as a sense of dread suddenly washed over him.

_The fucking poison. That dagger was poisoned. Oh God, why did I do that! Why would I have brought the poisoned daggers! That was so fucking dumb of me! I never actually wanted to KILL her! You stupid girl! Fuck!_

Hot tears burned the corners of his eyes and he ignored them as hard as he could as he tried to tend to her wound but she kept soaking through and he was going to run out of clean bandages and then there was the poison and, oh shit, how long did it take for that stuff to kill a person? Had she at least bled most of it out by now?

A revelation.

_The antidote. I keep a fucking antidote. You don't deal with poisons unless you fucking have one!_

He fumbled through his pockets clumsily, his blood soaked and still uncontrollably shaking hands racing and panicking as sweat streaked down his face. The fuck! Where was it! Did he bring it? Why couldn't he find it! Oh God there was no time for this Oh Jesus she was going to die….

Finally, he pulled a small vial of light colored liquid out from his clothes. He breathed a sigh of relief and carefully tried to unscrew the cap. He took a deep breath, trying in vain to calm himself so that he didn't spill it all by shaking too much, then placed his hand under her head and tilted her face upwards to pour the fluid into her mouth.

_Don't die._

_Don't die._

_Whatever you do, don't die!_

_If you ever want to see your friends…_

_If you ever want to face Temari…_

_If you ever want to fight me again!_

_Swallow this! And don't you DARE choke on it!_

_God damn you! Don't do this!_

_DON'T DIE!_

Her throat opened up and the antidote slid down and Kankuro thanked whatever God had blessed him for that. The poison was at least taken care of, but he didn't know if there was any irreversible damage already, couldn't think straight to do the math.

Now there was just this giant gaping hole in her stomach and he just kept pressing his hands to it but they just kept soaking up more of her blood and did she have very much left? He couldn't even tell if she was alive or dead, her skin was so pale, but no one was going to come and there wasn't a hospital for miles but he couldn't help her all by himself, that much was clear.

He had to take her home. NOW.

But they were three hours away from NOWHERE on all sides, would she still be alive in three hours?

It didn't matter, there was no time. He quickly scooped the girl up in his arms, the bandages now finally seemed to be holding the blood in at least mostly, it was hard to tell what blood was already there and what blood was fresh from the cut but there was no time to think he just ran. So Kankuro ran. He ran as fast as he could, in whichever direction he was facing, because hesitation would cost him her life and he couldn't afford that. He prayed and he ran and he made a three-hour run to Konoha in less than two hours.


	7. Ring Out

So you know what's fun? If you have to stop writing for a few months, be sure to leave off on a cliffhanger. The reviews are GREAT! I got five pages worth on that alone!

Also, it seems the manga has decided to take the story in a direction I never anticipated. So I think I'm going to have to make this a little AU, which normally I hate, but I can't see the Gaara I portrayed earlier being the kazekage so… we'll just glance over that for. Also, apparently, it takes several days to travel to Wind Country from Fire Country, not several hours. But if I wrote THAT, there wouldn't _be_ a story, there's almost no way Tenten or Kankuro would hold enough interest in each other to waste several days just for one short fight. So… the countries are both suddenly a little bit smaller. Yeah. Enjoy.

BTW thanks again to Archeeka and also Randomsomeone for their help with this chapter.

* * *

_"Hey, I just saw her move! I think she's waking up!"_

Very distantly, Tenten heard someone's voice. It was familiar, loud, and somewhat energetic. She tried to speak, but somehow, couldn't remember how to do it.

_"She made a sound! Tenten! Follow the sound of my handsome voice, and let the spirit of youth recover you!"_

Another, similar voice, but deeper and more annoying. She scowled, and somehow, managed to control the movements of her eyelids. Vision blurred slowly into focus. A white ceiling and two strange green blobs hovering over her. They gradually melted into the shapes of Rock Lee and Gai-Sensei. She groaned.

"Are you in pain, Tenten?" Lee asked, his voice ringing with genuine concern.

"…It stings," she said coarsely through her teeth as her vocal abilities came back to her. Despite not saying what it was that stung, Gai and Lee seemed to understand.

"Should we have the nurse get you some painkillers?…" Lee asked, but Tenten shook her head.

"It's nothing. It isn't that bad."

Lee said something, but she didn't listen. She was looking around, trying to figure out where she was, and how she had gotten there.

It was clearly a hospital, and it must have been in Konoha because she barely recognized the view outside her window. A sharp ache in her abdomen told her why she was there, and she vaguely remembered how it had happened.

_I was fighting Karasu… No, Karasu burned… It was Kankuro… I was running from him, or… from that poison, that's what I was running from… and then…._

She couldn't remember what had happened next.

"…How did I get here?" she asked them painedly. Gai and Lee exchanged worried glances.

"…We would ask you the same thing," Lee explained. "We were told by Neji that you were here. The nurse said she didn't recognize who brought you here."

"You have the same type of wound Lee found you with a month ago," Gai continued. "Tenten, however much it may pain you, you must tell us how this keeps happening so that we may help you!"

"Was it the same person as before? Do you have a rivalry with them?"

"Or does it go beyond a rivalry into something more dangerous?"

"Are you in some kind of trouble, Tenten?"

Their words were beginning to annoy her. She felt disgusting enough as it was, and these two interrogating her was not an improvement to her mood. Finally, she tore her line of sight away from the window and locked eyes with them angrily, her face betraying her irritation.

"Do you think I'm incompetent?" she asked them harshly. Gai regarded her calmly, but Lee appeared startled. She continued. "Give me a little credit! I know what I'm doing. These things _happen_. I'm a weapon's expert! It's expected for me to take a hit now and again! I chose to go to that fight, and in choosing, I understood the risks involved! If I didn't take these risks, how would I improve? I don't want to be saddled with easier missions with minimal threats, I want to know how to handle the danger, want to receive recognition for my talents! I want my skills appreciated, and I want to fight! _Please_ stop treating me like I don't know what I'm doing, it's very disheartening!"

Finally, she took a deep, relieving breath, and after a moment of looking into their eyes, gazed down at her hands, somewhat ashamed. Lee and Gai were very quiet. She hadn't meant to snap like that, but she was more than done with being underestimated, and felt as though that had been a long time coming. She was so ashamed. From letting loose on her friends, from the humiliation of losing a fight so badly that she needed hospital care, and from the anger that it appeared Kankuro wasn't even around to make sure he hadn't killed her. She put her fingers to her temple, trying to will herself to calm down. The last thing she wanted Lee and Gai to see would be her breaking down.

The atmosphere in the room suddenly seemed very thick with tension, and Tenten wondered if they were deciding what to say, or waiting for her to speak. Finally, Gai-Sensei broke the silence.

"Your maturation into a respectable ninja hasn't gone as unnoticed as you seem to think, Tenten," he began, and Tenten was surprised how serious her usually energetic and colorful teacher was being. She raised her eyes to him.

"This past month especially, you have a new energy about you. It's very bright and youthful!" He grinned, and she smiled slightly. "You train harder, smile more, do better work, and, well…. Sleep later," he seemed to smirk. A light blush tinted her cheeks. He laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder, and she found that he did make her feel better, a little. In a way that only Gai-sensei could.

"But try to remember all your precious people!" he reminded. "When we found out you were hospitalized, we didn't even know how it happened! We aren't scolding you for getting hurt, we're relieved that you're okay! We also want you to improve; we're even willing to help! Try to remember when you go out to fight, all the people important to you, who you are important to!"

She looked at him, and he smiled toothily. She couldn't help but to laugh a little bit.

"Look at you, trying to pretend you're wise," she smiled at him. "You sure know how to spoil a bad mood."

Suddenly, Lee threw his arms around her in a tight hug that nearly suffocated her. Pulling back, he exclaimed brightly, "Maybe now that you're here, they can get you back on a real sleep schedule!"

She couldn't suppress a giggle, and the two of them laughed as well.

"Sorry," she apologized sincerely, "I didn't mean to snap like that. I'm just a little… frustrated. I mean, Kan- er… He…" She shook her head, as if trying to rattle her thoughts into coherency, "…Where is he? Was I unconscious for that long, that he just went home? I… I thought… we're _friends_! Is he still in town? Did he leave any message for me at all?…"

She was very sincere. Lee looked to Gai, who seemed to be thinking on some matter. He folded his arms.

"This friend of yours… He _is_ the same one as before, isn't he? And you've been fighting him every night?"

Tenten lowered her gaze slightly and nodded, somewhat bashfully. He continued.

"He isn't from Konoha, is he? In fact, he's from Sand, isn't he?"

This time, she seemed a little more surprised, and her reaction gave Gai his answer.

"How did you know all that?" she asked incredulously.

"Gai-sensei is fantastic!" Lee exclaimed proudly, "He is an elite jounin! He always knows the answer!"

Tenten tried very hard _not_ to roll her eyes at Lee's enthusiasm, and continued to look to her teacher questioningly. Gai grinned.

"When you asked if he was still in town, you betrayed that he was not from Konoha. The poison _and_ the antidote found in you are almost _exclusive_ to the Village of Sand. "

"Tenten, is it true?" Lee asked in amazement, "You've been going to the Wind Country every night? That's so far away, though!"

"…We… We meet half way…" she explained a little timidly, feeling exposed. Gai brought his hand up to his chin and smiled knowingly.

"Ah, youth. With it comes energy, experiences, and _young love_!"

Lee's jaw hit the floor, and Tenten immediately turned bright red.

_"It's not like that!"_ She loudly insisted, throwing her hands up defensively. "There's nothing like that going on! We just… we just _fight_!"

Lee looked aghast, and Gai was laughing. Tenten's face fell into her hands in humiliation.

"You'll see him again, won't you?" Gai asked with a smirk, and Tenten flinched slightly. The way she answered this question would be very important, and she tried to think of the least incriminating response.

"….We need to settle this," she finally replied assuredly, satisfied with her answer. Gai nodded, grinning, but Lee still looked startled, and alternated staring in confusion between Tenten and Gai.

"In that case," Gai said, "You'd better get well soon! You only have ten days to get back in top condition, so starting tomorrow, Lee and I will dedicate ourselves to helping you! I know a recipe for dumplings that's said to have amazing healing properties if you eat one hundred of them!"

"Ten days?" she asked, wondering where that number had come from, but Lee interrupted with his own bright enthusiasm.

"Yes! We will help you, Tenten! You'll be better, in fact, more so than _ever_ by the end of ten days, with our help! You can _count_ on it!"

Both he and Gai then gave her a thumbs-up in a gesture she recognized to be their self-titled "Nice Guy Pose". It was rather silly, but knowing that the two of them always stuck by their promises- especially when accompanied by the pose, she did feel reassured, even grateful. It was good to see the extent of their care for her.

"We're going to tell the nurse you're awake now, and then leave you to rest for today. We'll be back first thing tomorrow morning, so be expecting it! By the way, this is for you. Come on, Lee!"

He said it so fast and so casually, that she barely registered it when he handed her a small folded slip of paper before quickly leading Lee out of the hospital room. When they were gone, Tenten curiously unfolded the piece of paper. A note was written on it.

_We'll try again in ten days. Get better quickly, and I'm sorry._

In her surprise, she read it over three times, as if making sure she hadn't missed anything. So he _had_ left her a message. And although it was brief, it said everything she wanted to know. She felt so relieved, that she actually giggled out loud. With a sigh, she fell back against her pillow and glanced back towards the window as the nurse walked into the room.

* * *

Kankuro didn't remember ever feeling so exhausted in his entire life. When he finally got home, looking tremendously worse for wear, he felt like he hadn't seen his bed in months. Temari was already up when he swung the front door open and trudged into the house. It was clear from the surprised look on her face that she wanted to ask him a few questions, about where he had been all night, no doubt, or whose blood he was covered in, or maybe about the curious lack of Karasu, but he brushed past her quickly before she could even open her mouth, and secluded himself in his bedroom with a resounding slam of the door. He barely managed to peel off his blood stained clothing, forget about a shower, before he collapsed onto his bed and fell asleep before he ever hit the pillow.

He slept for probably much longer than he would have normally allowed himself, and honestly would have stayed in bed longer if Temari hadn't started pounding on his door, insisting that if he didn't get out of bed she would come in there and drag him out by the hair.

So, he begrudgingly tore himself out of the comfort of his sheets, deciding that he was only doing so to use the shower, not because Temari told him to.

The hot water felt immediately relieving, soothing his sore muscles, and he watched as Tenten's blood washed off his skin and swirled down the drain. It was a depressing sight. He still felt dirty, like all the soap in the world wouldn't wash off all the blood. Her blood. What he did to her… to someone he had called his _friend_… was, to him, unforgivable. What thought process could have possibly led to him plunging a blade into her belly? Sure, they were fighting, but they weren't fighting to the _death_. It was more like a spar, really. He was just so angry about what she had done to Karasu that he may have acted a bit rashly. She had entirely decimated his best weapon, which had come as a complete surprise, and succeeded not only in disarming him but also enraging him. He acted rashly, blinded by anger, and fought her with true intent, not holding back anything, and didn't comprehend the extent of his actions until he felt her warm blood wash over his hands.

Ever since that first fight - the only other time she fell unconscious during their meetings - ever since that first night when he brought her home to Konoha out of some sort of obligation he didn't even quite understand; he had decided that if he ever had the opportunity to fight her again, he would leave her alive. He would beat her down, but only hard enough to cause minor damage that she could easily recover from. And, presented with that chance, that was just what he'd done, up until last night, when he acted thoughtlessly out of emotion - the very thing he'd scolded her for on any number of other occasions when she lost to him because she'd let herself get affected by his taunting.

He had to make it up to her. That was why he'd told her to meet him in ten days, which would give her plenty of time to recover. It would be harder to talk to her if she was still suffering from the pain he'd caused. He wouldn't bring any weapons; they weren't going to fight. He needed to talk. He needed to tell her that he couldn't fight her anymore; he couldn't attack someone that he didn't actually want to die. Especially since her skills had been improving so much lately. It was forcing him to stop holding back, and when he did that, blood was spilt. Her pride would be wounded, he could count on that; she would accuse him of thinking her to be weak, so much that she can't even defend herself, protest that she didn't need his 'protection', exclaim that she came here to fight and she wanted a challenge. But wouldn't she also be offended if they _did_ continue their battle, and she realized he wasn't trying to hurt her, that he wasn't utilizing all his skill?

He couldn't hurt her, not anymore, not after what happened. He cared about her too much for that.

It was so peculiar, how far their relationship had come in just three weeks. And to think, their first two encounters, he'd challenged her just because he felt like being irritating. He had enjoyed deflating her ego those times. Now, he enjoyed nearly every minute he spent with her. Every scowl, every smirk, every bit of her.

But not the blood.

* * *

True to their word, Gai and Lee showed up bright the next morning to help Tenten with her 'recovery training', and continued to show up every morning thereafter for the next ten days. At first, it felt good to receive a little attention, as she'd often felt like the most 'forgettable' member of their team, but after a while, she _really_ wished they would just _stop_. Most of their exercises were painful or exhausting, and some of them just tasted really, really bad. She was starting to resent Kankuro more and more for causing this injury that fuelled Gai and Lee's ambition to make her stronger.

Training was good, she never disagreed with it, but these guys just didn't know how to stop!

One day, they had even managed to convince Neji to grace them with his presence. At first, Tenten thanked Heaven. Finally, maybe she would get a little relief! But as it turned out, she had just been dropped from the frying pan into the fire. Neji was even worse! She knew him to be relentless, but rarely did he dedicate any day to issuing orders for her to run this many laps, do that many sit ups, hit those targets in this order with these weapons and by the way you're being timed, if you don't make that time I'm throwing exploding notes at you, and now we see how far you've come, let's fight. He hadn't even given her a ten minute break, even when she thought her stitches were going to split. It was like being in Hell, and Neji was the devil. She found herself wishing somebody would throw a kunai straight into her head just so she could escape this nightmare.

Of the training exercises she endured in those ten days, some of the practices were physical, some were mental, and some were even medicinal, in hopes of completely curing her by her deadline. Trying to speed up the healing process seemed against nature (or so she once protested after the eighth or so cup of different flavored tea said to have healing properties- she liked tea just fine but after a while she _really_ just wasn't thirsty anymore) but they had at some point caught the Hokage's assistant Shizune and managed to convince her to help Tenten along. Shizune's method felt much more effective than pouring cup after cup of scalding water down her throat, and she did feel better afterwards. However, that didn't stop Gai sensei and Lee, who wanted to "make sure", and continued to present her with home remedies.

But for all the pain and horror she endured, she had to admit, it was working. By the end, she felt perfectly healthy without a bit of pain in her abdomen (although there was a scar), and in truth, fitter than she had ever been. Now, she felt, she was ready. Ready to face anything Kankuro had to offer, for any surprise, even if he came at her with everything he had. Never again would she need to be brought home for medical treatment and disabled for that length of time. What if something happened and she was needed on a mission? She couldn't let herself be useless, or worse, a liability!

But despite all that, despite that underlying anger about the life-threatening inconvenience he had caused, there was one thought she just couldn't shake for all ten days. For the second time, he brought her back. For the second time, he needlessly saved her life. And this time, he even left her a schedule for their next meeting. She couldn't help but to think that he really must want to keep her alive. More than that, he wanted to see her again. He had even _apologized_. That was unlike him; usually when he won, he gloated obnoxiously. Was he really worried about her? Was he still worried, now? Was he afraid she would be angry with him?

She could see where that idea would come from; after all, she was clearly the type of girl to hold a grudge. But when it came right down to it, she wasn't angry with him. Maybe minorly irritated, but it really had been her own fault, she should have been more alert. If that had been a real fight with a real enemy, she'd be dead. He may have stabbed her with a poisoned blade, but he kept her alive so that she could overcome that weakness.

Of course, that wasn't to say he wasn't going to get the living hell beat out of him next time she saw him. She was, after all, the type to hold a grudge.

When at last the tenth day came, she could do nothing to hide her excitement. She had suffered ten days of pain and torture (though she wouldn't admit that to the well-meaning duo who subjected her to it), all for this night, all to see him again. She couldn't face him again if she wasn't at top condition, it would only harm his opinion of her, prove that she didn't belong there, with him. She absolutely wouldn't stand for that. Tonight, she would not only prove her resiliency and determination, but also beat him for sure. Last time she had disarmed him, before he pulled a weapon and miraculously won the fight. Before that, she had been so close to victory, she could smell it. This time, it would be hers for sure.

Gai and Lee were supposed to see her off, but evading them, she left alone. Their help had been appreciated, but this was something she had always done by herself, and she would continue to do so. Seeing them would distract her from her course of action. They would only be disappointed until she returned with her hard-earned win.

Feeling comfortable and confident, Tenten left Konoha.

* * *

Kankuro had managed to successfully pass ten days without worrying himself to death about the impending meeting by busying himself with Karasu's repairs. After retrieving what was left of the marionette, which consisted of a burnt but salvageable metal skeletal frame, he began a long road of work reconstructing it. And although the fight with Temari when she saw Karasu's remains was not looked forward to, it was inevitable. Sure enough, she was enraged.

"What if we'd been assigned a mission?" she berated, "What if there was an attack? You always have to be ready, you _idiot_! How could you let that _happen_? Kuroari's still there but he's _useless_ without Karasu! You _need_ that thing to fight, I've _seen _your taijutsu!"

"'Taijutsu'? The hell is that?" he asked passively with obvious cynicism, his back to her as he began measuring a block of wood that would encase Karasu's skeletal frame and flesh out his torso.

She scowled. "You wouldn't take that attitude with anyone but me, would you?"

"Nope, you're the lucky winner. Hand me that saw."

She rolled her eyes heavily and kicked it over to him. Temari then stormed away, leaving Kankuro to do his work in private. And although she all but ignored him the next few days, she managed to cool her temper, and even got on speaking terms with him again, unable to stay mad for long.

Absorbing himself in all the very intricate work succeeded in distracting Kankuro from darker thoughts, and he had resolved to have the project done before the ten day time limit. Making a life-sized doll out of wood seemed like something one could easily make in just two days, especially if every waking hour was dedicated to it, but making a life sized working _marionette_ with hidden weapons, alternative transformations, and a thousand gears and joints was more of a challenge.

Over the next few days, He managed to finish reconstructing Karasu, which was a god damn miracle as far as he was concerned, and had just enough time to test the doll out and make sure everything was back in working order with Temari on the tenth day.

The spar ended with no victory for either side, and they sat down to catch their breath under the shade of a brick wall on their property that served as a fence. After a few moments of peaceful silence, their bodies cooled down, and Temari, now fully recovered, looked curiously towards her brother.

"You wasted a lot of chakra and stamina on this spar," she began. "Don't you have a fight today?"

"I'm not fighting today," he replied emotionlessly, staring fixedly at the sand near his shoes.

"I thought you said you had a meeting tonight."

"I do. We aren't fighting." He said it almost bitingly, as if the thought upset him and talking about it was uncomfortable. Temari, ever tactical, easily understood the meaning behind his tone. She very slowly grinned.

"I see. I think I understand this You're upset about nearly killing her, so you wanna call off the game before someone gets hurt!"

"So what?" He snapped, turning sharply to her. "She's getting too good. I have to fight her now like I really _mean_ it. But when I do that… I end up taking the _long_ way home." He trusted her to understand the meaning behind that phrase, and turned his face away, looking at nothing in particular.

"But you fight me all the time, and I'm pretty sure you'd be at least moderately upset if I died," she began, "Why is she different?"

"You and I don't fight to win," was his very simple reply. He leaned his head back against the wall behind him, staring absently up at the evening sky. There was a moment's pause as the pair internally contemplated their next move.

"You actually _miss_ her, don't you?" Temari asked seriously.

For a moment, Kankuro didn't reply. He watched the wind blow the sand around their property, deciding what the answer actually was, and what answer he should give Temari.

"Yes," he finally replied. Temari grinned.

"Then you'd better take a shower before you see her tonight, you smell awful."

He turned his head to her with a wry smile, and wordlessly stood up and walked away, trailing Karasu along behind him.

When he was gone, Temari stood up and stretched out, feeling her cramped muscles tighten and her bones pop. As she reached forward to collect her fan, a sudden familiar swirl of sand signaled the appearance of Gaara.

"Out for a stroll?" Temari asked him curiously. Gaara did not look at her, but instead stared unblinkingly at the door Kankuro had disappeared behind a moment ago.

"He's going out again," he remarked passively. Temari eyed him carefully, puzzled as to his sudden interest in their brother's affairs.

"Yes, he does that sometimes," she replied.

Gaara was silent.

While it was widely assumed that Gaara didn't really care about the personal lives of his siblings, apparently he did hold at least a mild interest. Temari considered for a moment, before finally musing aloud "I wonder where he goes."

Gaara's reply came as a slight surprise.

"I'll find out."

With that statement and a swirl of sand, he disappeared, giving Temari no time to reply. She watched the place he had been for a moment before finally shrugging carelessly and heading towards her home. She would, of course, have to tell Kankuro; but only after his shower. She wanted to see just how fast he could be.

* * *

The wind whipped across her face and through her bangs as she blew soundlessly through the forest. Her hair was tied into their familiar buns atop her head because it was easier to fight with it out of her eyes, and also because Kankuro really hated it. If he wanted her hair down, he would have to take it down himself. She then smirked a little at that thought.

Tenten was positive that tonight would be their last fight. After how close she came last time, and her extensive training over the last week and a half, there was no way she could lose.

Faster and faster she ran, so close to her destination. She was anxious. It had been too long. Far be it for her to admit even to herself, but during her week with Gai and Lee, he had never been far from her thoughts. After all, he was the reason she was enduring this grueling training regimen. She wanted to see him again. She wanted to hear him again. God forbid, she even wanted to feel him again. She wanted him to fight her personally in melee combat again, wanted to see that look of concentration on his face, as even he knew that when it came to close combat fighting, she was a level above him. Maybe this time, she would grapple _him_. This time, she would pin _him_ down and force _him_ to taste the dirt, as she so often had. True, he was stronger and could probably throw her off easily, but if she had enough sharp instruments pointed at his neck, she just might assure a win.

A mental picture of that potential victory crept into her mind, and she blushed slightly. What a strange thing to think about. What a strange image she just couldn't seem to erase. And what a strange way it suddenly resurfaced the memory of that night, just before he left on his six day mission - it seemed so long ago - when he got just a little bit too close, and looked just a little bit too handsome, and the nature of their relationship got just a little bit too hazy, until he realized what he was doing and pulled back, before things got just a little bit too awkward.

With _that_ thought now planted firmly in her mind, Tenten could feel her face burning red hot, and tried very hard to clear her head and concentrate on the forthcoming fight.

It wasn't much longer until she reached their meeting point. Already, she could see a dark silhouette standing plainly out in the open. She smirked to herself. Did he miss her that bad, that he would just come right out to say hi?

Quickly, though, her smile evaporated. The mood tonight… the atmosphere around him… it was different. Something was different. Something was wrong. She slowed down and entered the vicinity cautiously, her guard raised, her senses on alert. Finally she stepped close enough to understand her sudden discomfort, and when she did, her blood froze, and her face drained of color.

That wasn't Kankuro at all.

* * *

Kankuro bounded down the steps to the first floor, his wiry brown hair still damp from his shower. Temari was reading a book on the couch, ignoring him as he pieced his things together before leaving.

"Time to go?" she asked plainly, not raising her eyes from her novel.

"Yeah," he answered, pouring himself a glass of cold water from the kitchen.

"Better hurry," she called to him with disinterest. Kankuro snorted.

"No need. She'll wait."

"But someone may beat you there."

He then entered the living room, cup in hand, looking at her in puzzlement. "Who?" he questioned. His sister ignored him, though. He studied her for a moment, and slowly his face twisted from bafflement to shock.

"…Where's Gaara?…" he asked slowly. Temari shrugged, and finally glanced towards him.

"Don't know. Maybe you should go look."

Kankuro stared at her in horrified silence, momentarily frozen, as the words sunk in. Finally, he dropped his cup, which smashed to the floor, spilling wet glass across the hallway, and ran to the front door, swooping down to scoop up his shoes and taking off like a bullet towards their meeting place.


	8. Tie

Okay. I think it's time to finish this. Even if I don't like how it ends, if it's my least favorite chapter, it's time to finish this. Many may have noticed that interest in the Naruto fandom is waning by even the most die-hard and loyal fans, in the wake of the atrocious three-year leap. I, myself, am finding it difficult to care what happens next, turning to other fandoms for comfort. But I don't want to leave this story unfinished, especially at the last chapter. Yes, the last chapter. So I'll finish this, and be done. Thank you very much to everyone who was very patient with the process of this story, and to everyone who reviewed. Now that I've inspired you, feel free to go write your own Kankuro/Tenten, or other alternative pairing. In my opinion, crack pairings prove an author's worth. If you can convince me that two people who have never even been in the same ROOM as each other would fall in love, you've earned yourself a gold star. So, here is the conclusion to my own little experiment, the test of my worth. Thank you for reading.

* * *

Tenten was still, her body frozen in shock, her face betraying her horror.

It was Gaara. It was Gaara! Why was he here? She looked around at her surroundings; could she possibly have the wrong place, the wrong time? No, that couldn't be- this was clearly the place, the damage shown on the trees were evidence of past fights; and she had counted ten days to the minute, although… he could have meant ten days from the night he gave her the note, not the morning she received it…

Gaara looked at her, his features registering, from what she could tell, absolutely no emotion- not amusement, irritation, loathing, curiosity, anything. She had heard that he wasn't nearly as homicidally insane anymore, he had even once helped her teammate Lee out of a tight spot with the last Kaguya; but that wasn't too long after he had crushed Lee's bones, also. She had seen him very rarely in the past, and he intimidated her every time. Was he out here to be alone, and she had interrupted him? Or, scarier still, was he waiting for her? How much had Kankuro told his brother about their nightly encounters?

Moments passed. She knew she had to say something; standing out here like an idiot was probably not her best course of action; but the only think she could manage to vocalize was "…Uhh…"

"So," he began slowly, and she still couldn't find any traces of emotion in his voice, "You're her."

_Breathe. Think. Breathe. Think._

"W-where's Kankuro?"

"He is on his way. I just wanted to meet you, since you seem to have become so important to him."

Tenten did not know how to respond. She didn't know Gaara was interested in Kankuro's life, but there were lots of things about both of them that she didn't know.

"What's your name?" He asked suddenly and with no hint of any real interest in the answer.

"It's… Tenten," she replied nervously. Was this going to be tonight's adventure? An awkward evening with Gaara?

He made a small noise, indicating that he had heard her but did not care. Tenten bit her bottom lip uneasily, glancing around. He had said that Kankuro was on his way, right? How far along was he? How long would she have to be alone with Gaara? He seemed like he was studying her, analyzing, judging. Was he really so concerned about the people his brother meets, or was he just curious because his brother didn't meet many people?

He took a step towards her. Startled, she took a step back. To this reaction, she saw on his face the lightest trace of a smirk.

"Are you frightened?" He asked with slight amusement. Tenten very carefully considered her reply. What was the correct answer? She was sure in this case, there would be one.

"Just… surprised," she finally decided, and it was true anyway. He didn't move any more, so it must have been the right answer.

Then, his face went alight with recognition, and he seemed to come to a conclusion he had been trying to reach. "Now I remember," he started carelessly, "where I've seen you. You fought against Temari and lived."

Tenten was horrified. He actually remembered that! She had prayed he wouldn't know her, or at least that if he did it was because she was team mates with Lee whom he didn't seem to hate, not that humiliating defeat! Her mouth slacked and she couldn't think of a single replythat she wanted him to know._ Yes, I fought Temari; yes, I lost; yes, that's partially why I'm here. _Oh, no… would he actually ask why she was here, or how she had met Kankuro? No, he couldn't possibly have any interest in that… but then, he HAD shown up for the sole purpose of meeting her, he just might show a vague curiosity in her first encounter with his brother. She prayed that he wouldn't as hard as she could. She wasn't stupid enough to tell Gaara that something was none of his business, and she didn't know how well he could see through lies, but he absolutely _could not_ know that she had met Kankuro on her way to challenge Temari.

Gaara seemed to be moderately entertained by Tenten's obvious mental turmoil. He might have continued, but Tenten was saved by the sound of someone crashing through the trees towards them at top speed, making no clear effort to mask his presence. It was Kankuro. Tenten was so relieved she could have burst. _My hero,_ she thought as Kankuro stopped on a branch above them. She had never been so happy to see him. But her smile quickly vanished as she registered the look on Kankuro's face. He was glaring at his brother, shocked and enraged, his eyes wide and his teeth bared.

"What are you doing here!" He barked, incensed. Gaara remained cool.

"I just wanted to see who it was," he replied simply with a light smirk. Tenten wondered if maybe he showed up not to see her at all, but for the sole purpose of pissing off Kankuro.

"It's not any of your business, where I go or who I see!" Kankuro snapped, and Tenten was startled to see him so vicious. He was usually much more relaxed, and besides that, she had never known anyone to ever lash out at Gaara. Unconsciously, she took a step back, hoping this argument didn't lead to bloodshed. She didn't know them well enough to know if this was common, or if it was unsafe for Kankuro.

"It does, if it will effect a mission," Gaara replied, showing for the first time slight agitation. "Your weapon was needlessly destroyed. That's bad for business."

Tenten's gut wrenched. It had been _she_ who destroyed Karasu. Had she caused a huge problem for Kankuro? She had assumed it would inconvenience him, but she hadn't even thought that it would inconvenience Temari or Gaara. And to think, she had been so overjoyed when she did it! But, also… that was what lead to her hospitalization. Tenten suddenly felt very guilty. She didn't want to be a _problem_ for him, and cause issues with his family and his missions. But that seemed to be what she was becoming.

Kankuro growled, unable to come up with a satisfactory reply. He had had this same argument with Temari, but Gaara wouldn't just get annoyed and walk away like she had done when he wouldn't give her a clear answer. Not wanting to do this now, he changed the subject.

"How did you find this place! I've never told you or Temari about it!"

Gaara's steady gaze remained trained upon his brother. "You've broken a trail."

Kankuro inwardly swore. That was probably true; he'd been coming here every night for a month, and after a while, made no real effort to hide his trail. It didn't seem like anything that would ever be a problem. He should have been more careful. He should have considered that someone might follow him someday, for some purpose or another! And now, Tenten…

He glanced over to her. She looked terrified. Was it because of Gaara?

"You didn't do anything to her, did you?" He shot an accusatory look to the other boy, who scoffed.

"That would hardly be necessary. I told you- I just wanted to meet her."

"And you have now, so go home!" Inwardly he was not hard pressed to admit that issuing orders to Gaara frightened him a little, as the old Gaara would have wasted no time crushing his windpipe with a grip of sand and not a second thought- but that side of Gaara had receded recently, and Kankuro hoped it wouldn't resurface, because the elder boy could _not_ seem to control his anger. What he did out here and who with was no one's business but his own! His relationship with Tenten was a matter only between the two of them! "This is between Tenten and me! It has nothing to do with you, OR Temari! Tell her that, I know she put you up to this!"

There was a moment of heated silence as the two brothers stared hatefully at one another, expressions livid. The atmosphere was thick with tension, and Tenten was _terrified_ that Gaara would lose it completely and splay Kankuro across half an acre. It was clear he didn't like being told what was or was not his business and more than that, issued orders. But Kankuro's expression never faltered, his determination remained steady, and after what must have been the longest minute Tenten had ever suffered through, Gaara turned his back. He began to walk towards the Sand Village. As he passed Kankuro, he paused briefly and turned towards him. Kankuro noted that his expression had changed now- instead of reflecting deep rage, he now displayed a very wicked smirk.

"Brunette."

Kankuro gestured violently towards the direction Gaara faced, and with a whirl of sand, the younger boy was gone. Tenten let out a deep, relieving sigh, but was immediately startled again when Kankuro turned his furious eyes on her.

"Why are you here!" He demanded fiercely, his face showing none of the softness or smugness it usually held. Tenten was stunned by his attitude, for a moment she was sure her heart stopped, and then she quickly began to boil with anger.

"Because you TOLD me to come, you jackass!" She retaliated vehemently, displaying the same savage hatred she had shown him on their first encounter. His sudden shift in personality towards her confused and enraged her. How could he possibly be angry with her? She had only done as he had asked, she was expecting Gaara's arrival just as much as Kankuro was!

Kankuro's expression remained, his assault on her continued. "I mean, why do you KEEP coming here? I'm not who you want to fight, and there are a _million_ ways to get around me! You could take a different path, or come at an earlier time!"

"I keep coming here because I said I _would_!" she spat venomously, "And YOU said you would, too! You said you wouldn't let me pass until I beat you, and I agreed! What's so difficult about _that_!"

"So you keep coming because you feel _honor bound_ to come?" he raged harshly, and Tenten's stomach tightened. She realized that she was shaking slightly, but couldn't seem to make it stop. Tears threatened to fill her eyes, but she held them back as hard as she could, not wanting to display a weakness now, not wanting to break down now. What brought on this anger he was displaying she couldn't say for certain, but she was starting to see where it was leading.

"I come here because I _want_ to come!" She yelled, and Kankuro scoffed visibly.

"You come here because you want to _fight_. Even after what happened last time, you've brought your arsenal now," he sneered, gesturing towards the weapons she visibly wore, and her blood boiled with intense rage, and at the same time, her heart felt as though it was being crushed with a fist, and it hurt.

"You didn't leave me any instructions _not_ to!" It was very difficult for her now not to sound hurt by his words, but she managed to restrain the tears, which fought and burned the back of her eyes. "In fact, your note said we would 'try again'! What was I _supposed_ to take that to mean!" There was a prolonged moment of stifling silence, the air between them was thick with heated tension. Kankuro seemed to straighten up and collect himself, but the harsh anger in his eyes did not subside.

"I'm tired of this game, now," he started, and despite the obvious aggression, she was slightly surprised to hear underlying tones of weariness and pain in his voice. "I don't want to fight you anymore. Go home."

And with those cold words, he turned his back on her and disappeared into the dark shadows of the trees. Tenten found herself momentarily blinded by her own watering eyes as she watched him go, it seemed so surreal, did that actually happen? Was it possible that she was still laying in that hospital bed, having a nightmare? Or maybe that wasn't Kankuro at all, that certainly wasn't the Kankuro she knew! But the pain was real, and the tears were real, and it all became a horrible reality as the weight of what had just transpired came crashing down on her, and before she knew it she was turning and speeding towards Konoha, the tears burning a salty trail down her cheeks. She could not stop them now, she did not try. All she knew was that she needed to get away, needed to run, to go to a place where pain didn't exist, maybe she could outrun her despair. She didn't understand what had just happened, but it hurt. She hurt like she had never been hurt before.

_He's so stupid!_ She thought as she ran, teeth gritted in a feeble attempt to hold in her choking sobs_, So stupid! What is his problem? It was his idea! He told me to come back, and so I did! How can he get angry for that? I haven't done anything to offend him! I've done everything he's ever asked!_

She wiped her reddening eyes on the back of her arm, but the hot tears continued to flow. Her heart thudded violently against her chest, threatening to crush itself against her ribs.

_I shouldn't have come tonight! I shouldn't have started coming at all!_ _How could I let a stupid guy like that get to me! I hate him! I wish I'd never met him! I can't believe I actually missed him! I can't believe I wanted to see him!_

She stopped running to avoid stumbling when her legs began to give way under her, and rested against the trunk of an old oak tree, shaking from anger and sorrow and confusion. Her eyes were still streaming, hiccuping from the sobs she was repressing, wishing she could stop crying, stop hurting, brush the whole matter off, but she couldn't.

_I can't believe he would say those things to me! Questioning my motives! I thought we were friends! What did he mean, he's tired of this game? What did all those nights mean to him? Was he making a toy of me, all this time? Was I an evening's entertainment? Or does he think I was toying with him, using him in some way?_

….

As she thought this, she suddenly bolted upright, realization swept through her as though she had just been struck by lightening. Instantly, her crying ceased. She knew what had caused this, she knew what she could do to fix it. Was it too late?

Turning quickly back towards the Wind Country, she shot off into the night, faster than she ever knew she could run. Along the way, she discarded various weapons, flinging them haphazardly into the grass and trees, feeling that they were slowing her down with their excess weight, and at this moment, speed was the most important thing in the world. The fact that they slowed her down may or may not have been true, but she felt faster releasing them. She wouldn't be needing them now.

She had to catch up to Kankuro. She understood now. She understood! He _was_ feeling used! He was feeling that she still only had one objective in mind, to pass him by! He was frustrated because he thought she still only viewed him as an obstacle! He was feeling like a tool! Gaara's arrival angered him, because it forced him to realize that they couldn't continue every night they way they had been without the nature of their relationship being questioned by others, and he didn't know what the answer was, he assumed her view of him was completely different from his view of her! He assumed she didn't _want_ a relationship past fighting, that after her fight with Temari she planned to never see him again! Couldn't he see that that was no longer the case? Couldn't he see that she was using these fights as an excuse to see him every night?

_You are so stupid, Kankuro!_ She thought as she determinedly swept through the maze of trees, and passed their usually meeting place, where too recently she'd had her heart broken_. Do you really still think this is about Temari? Can't you see through this façade of mine?_

She had never gone this far into the Wind Village before and she was starting to fear she was getting lost. Kankuro knew this area well and would undoubtedly be very fast, while she was slowed down. She tried not to panic. It was very important that she stop him, or she might never see him again! She plunged ahead desperately, hoping to catch sight of him, or at least signs of the trail Gaara had said he followed.

"KANKURO!" If she called out his name, would he stop? Would he allow her the time it took for her to catch up, would he hear her? Or would he run faster?

"PLEASE, WAIT!" Did he really never want to see her again? Was he truly just tired of being near her? Would he not even listen to her explanation, her confession? It had taken her this long to understand him, was she wrong? Or was he tired of waiting?

She had almost lost all hope, almost lost the fight, almost forfeit to futility, when she caught a glimpse of something in the distance. Her heart stopped again for an increasingly dangerous number of times that night as she followed the vision, which grew into a silhouette of a person.

He had stopped and waited for her. So he did care, after all.

When Tenten caught up to him, she had to stop and catch her breath before she could speak. He watched her silently with cold, narrow eyes, his hands casually and uncaringly in his pockets, and he waited for her to speak. If her blood was boiling before, it was freezing now. She took a deep breath.

"You're such a jerk!" She began intensely, and for a moment, Kankuro was startled. Was that_ really _what she had followed him this far to say?

"Why did you get angry? Do you really still think this is about Temari?…" She continued, her eyes were questioning and her voice was pained. "I told you before! I stopped caring about that a long time ago! I come to fight… because it's my only excuse to see you!"

She had his full attention now, she could tell, and she found that the words she hadn't in the least bit rehearsed or even knew she wanted to say came to her with astounding ease.

"I don't even want to fight Temari anymore. It isn't important! I understand now that my desire for revenge was childish and ridiculous… you helped me realize that! That part of me is in the past. That _fight_ is in the past!" Her voice was now increasingly desperate as she poured her heart out and prayed he would understand what she was trying to say. "But even when I knew that was true, I kept coming! Even if I'd won, I still would have come back the next day! I know why you got angry… I've been so stupid! You must have felt… _used_… and by breaking Karasu, I must have caused you so many problems! I'm sorry… I'm _sorry_, okay! I thought this was the only way we could meet! I thought you _wanted_ to fight, and so I came prepared to meet your expectations, because it meant spending the evening again with you! Do you… Do you understand what I'm saying?…" She trailed off at the end, her heart pounding, her eyes pleading, hopeful, fearful, and anticipating.

Kankuro regarded her for a long moment, registering every word she had said, weighing her resolution. Her eyes were watery, her cheeks were stained with tears, and he understood how serious she was. When he finally spoke, his voice no longer held the dangerous sharpness that had cut her before, but rather a quiet softness, tinted with his usual smug attitude.

"You could have just asked me out on a date."

Despite herself, Tenten laughed a little.

"You're such a _jerk_!" She said again, as a fresh flow of tears streamed down her cheeks. At the same time, she was greatly relieved. In his own smart-ass way, he accepted her apology, and he understood what she had said. She was so grateful it was actually making her cry again. She rubbed her eyes, trying to forcibly stop them to stop watering, trying to hide her face. "I wish you had told me off in a nicer way!"

He laughed slightly, and took a step closer to her. "I wish you had said all that sooner, so that I wouldn't have felt the need to tell you off. We're _both_ guilty."

She nodded silently, finding that speaking anymore was coming with great difficulty, feeling worn out, exhausted, like she'd lived a thousand lives in one night. She managed to stop the tears- they were ridiculous, really- and was trying to wipe her face, to hide the traces of her weakness. How awful she must look! She'd used to hope that if she ever found herself in this situation, she'd at least look good, not wind blown and tear streaked and half dead from exhaustion. He smiled at her and shook his head, and she cursed him for being able to stay looking so good, so _very_ good, at pretty much all times.

Catching the slightest hint of her jealous pout as her fingers went to her hair as if in an attempt to straighten it, a warm smile lit Kankuro's face. It was like he'd never been angry. How could he be angry? He could be so brash. It was a little painful, knowing how much he must have hurt her for her to come barreling towards him with tears streaming down her face, and he'd seen the shocked, wounded look in her eyes when he snapped at her, but he just couldn't seem to stop the anger. Everything she'd said was true; he had been feeling like an obstacle in her path, something she would move past upon his defeat, and nothing more. Like anything else, any other relationship, any feelings attached, were all his own. And if that were the case, he wanted it done. That may have been fine when they first met, but now that he'd gotten to know her, started to care about her progress, about her health, about _her_; if his care was one sided, he would rather not have it. And so he tried to severe the ties, to break away, before someone- before he- could get hurt. He'd broken her heart because he couldn't face his own weakness.

But then, she called his name. And he froze, down to his very core. He saw her face, and she looked so desperate, her eyes pleading with him to give her a chance to explain, her weapons all discarded. And in her own, Tenten-like way, she confessed all the same feelings he'd held for her.

And now here she was, looking a mess, looking beautiful.

"Tenten."

The kunoichi was startled slightly by the brush of his skin on her face as he gently raised her chin and forced their eyes to meet. She turned a little pink and averted her eyes, but he held his gaze. She could feel it, even looking away, the heat of his dark eyes on her, burning holes through her, tearing down all her defenses. She didn't understand how he could hold so much power over her, so much to make her feel weak in the knees at the look in his eyes, the sound of his voice, his lingering touch. And she wished she knew why she was so enthralled by the smell of his clothes, the shape of his eyes, the slight breeze blowing through his hair. She wanted to keep all of it, every bit of it, for herself. She never wanted to miss him again, she never wanted to hurt him again, and she never wanted him to stop looking at her with those warm, gentle eyes. The eyes reserved just for her.

And now his hand was cupping her face and she was blushing so hot it was a wonder she didn't catch fire. His fingers brushed up her face to her hitai-ate, slid under the thick material and swiftly pulled it off her head, dropping it to the ground. Now, the two of them were even.

"I meant it when I said I didn't want to fight you anymore," he began seriously. "When we last fought, I nearly killed you. For about three hours, I thought I did. It was… the worst feeling of my life. I don't want to do that again." He frowned slightly, and shook his head, but continued, looking steadily into her eyes. "Sorry I snapped at you back there. And, while I'm on the subject-" he laughed slightly- "Sorry I stabbed you, too." He then smiled viciously, and added, "But you should have been able to dodge that. Really, I was _very _disappointed in you."

"Maybe you shouldn't have shown up with POISONED blades!" She returned with a playful smirk. "I don't forgive you at all. I think you owe me."

"In that case, I don't forgive you for incinerating Karasu, and I think _you_ owe _me_."

"Alright, alright," she threw up her hands defensively, "I think we can call it fair. Even if by doing so, we're putting my life on the same level as a life sized dolly." She smiled at him, an eyebrow raised coyly, and brushed her bangs out of her eyes. She felt more comfortable now; the tension in the air seemed to have lifted since they began teasing each other again. She was glad he wasn't angry with her anymore, but now there was a new question.

"So, Kankuro," she began slowly, with only a slight hint of timidity which she seemed to by trying to cover up by shifting her weight, "If we aren't going to fight… what will we do?…"

"Well," he began, looking intently at her with a wicked grin, "I thought we'd do a whole lot of this."

And without a word of warning, he suddenly leaned forward and pressed his lips firmly against her own in a dizzying kiss. Tenten was startled senseless at first, but very quickly her mind flooded with endorphins, and she responded, returning the kiss with equal passion. Her hands gripped the front of his shirt and his arms wrapped around her body tightly, the world seemed to disappear around them, and when they finally broke apart, he did not lessen his hold on her, but instead buried his face in her hair. She pressed her face into his shoulder, and they stood that way in silence, absorbing each other's warmth, inhaling each other's scent, being in each other's arms, and it felt _good_. It felt _right_. Like some empty hole had been filled. And they realized then that even if they hadn't known it before, they had been wanting this for a long time now.

"So…" Kankuro finally spoke after several moments, "…that was _my_ idea. Unless you have a better one."

Tenten laughed, blushing madly. "I think I like that idea."

"Good. If you didn't, I'd have to keep trying until you did," he grinned. Tenten smiled and pulled away from him. She picked her forehead protector up off the ground, but did not put it on.

"It might be difficult to maintain a relationship from two separate countries," she stated seriously. Kankuro seemed unphased.

"We've done pretty good so far."

"So we're just going to keep meeting half way?…" She raised a questioning eyebrow at him, and he shrugged, smiling.

"For starters. Then we'll see."

Tenten crossed her arms, looking amused. It was true that their relationship had progressed just fine so far on a nightly meeting half way between their respective countries. There was no reason to discontinue. After a while, maybe she would even be able to convince him to come visit her at home.

Of course, he was probably plotting the same thing.

"Fine," she smiled. "But can we at least change our meetings to daytime?"

"How unromantic."

"I sleep 'til _noon_!" She protested, but she could tell he was kidding. He threw an arm affectionately around her shoulders, drawing her close to him, and turning to her, he smiled into her hair.

"How did I ever end up attracted to a little green leaf like you?" he asked, mostly to himself, in amusement.

"You must have _very_ good taste," Tenten replied with a smug little smile. Kankuro laughed, and drew her in for another kiss.

"You must be right."

* * *

The end 


End file.
